Hero image: The AGDAs 2026 winners. Image: IGEA / AGDAs
Melbourne studio Beethoven & Dinosaur has won Game of the Year at the 2026 Australian Game Developer Awards for Mixtape, its coming-of-age adventure about three friends on their last night together. The win was announced on Wednesday at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, as part of Melbourne International Games Week.
According to IGEA’s winners announcement, Mixtape also took Excellence in Visual Art and Excellence in Sound Design — three awards on the night, more than any other game.
“Mixtape was the outcome of an amazingly talented team,” director Johnny Galvatron said in the release. “To go from wanting to make a game around DEVO to creating something that resonates with so many people is mind blowing.”
The judges called it “a triumph in virtual storytelling, pairing a distinct visual identity with heartfelt music to deliver one of the most memorable experiences in recent memory.”
The rest of the games awards went to studios in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria:
- Excellence in Gameplay and Excellence in Accessibility: Bits & Bops, Tempo Lab Games (NSW)
- Excellence in Narrative: Schrodinger’s Cat Burglar, Abandoned Sheep with SuperTonic, Actuator Digital & Translationz (QLD)
- Excellence in Music: Malys, Summerfall Studios with Belinda Coomes and Montaigne (VIC)
- Excellence in Extended Reality: Hyper Bullet, Protostar (QLD)
- Excellence in Impact: Bluey’s Happy Snaps, Gameloft Brisbane with BBC Studios, Ludo Studio & Bandai Namco (QLD)
- Excellence in Debut: Key Fairy, Owl Machine (QLD)
- Excellence in Ongoing: Static Shift Racing, Timbo Jimbo (VIC)
The Excellence in Mobile category has been postponed until 2027, according to the AGDAs site.
Two of those winners are self-published independents. Bits & Bops was a finalist in five categories, per the September finalists list, and Tempo Lab Games is its own publisher on Steam. Key Fairy — Owl Machine’s hand-drawn, pacifist bullet-hell — won Debut after being shortlisted in three categories, and is also one of the Aus Indie Showcase games we covered ahead of PAX Aus, which opens today.
Studio of the Year went to Uppercut Games, the Canberra team behind the Submerged series, with Magicians: The Devil’s Deal slated for 2027. The Adam Lancman Award went to Paris Buttfield-Addison of Secret Lab and Yarn Spinner, the first GCAP Legacy Award to Riot Games engineer Tony Albrecht, and the Rising Star Award to Amy Potter-Jarman and Tyson Butler-Boschma.
IGEA CEO Ron Curry used the announcement to make a pitch to government. “Continued government funding is crucial in ensuring Australia continues to produce great games that are exported to the rest of the world,” he said.
That line lands a few weeks after Screen Australia’s latest games funding round, which we broke down yesterday.
Source: IGEA / AGDAs – Mixtape Wins Game of the Year at the AGDAs, IGEA / AGDAs – Finalists Announced for the 2026 AGDAs, Steam – Key Fairy, Steam – Bits & Bops