Was looking at going to this exhibition sooner or later and I thought on AFL Grand Final day would be better as it would not have as many people in it. It did still have quite a few people in it but not super busy that you could not see anything or indeed move.

It is over 20 years since I saw the Sonic the Hedgehog exhibition I believe upstairs https://timchuma.com/miff2005/sonic_icon_acmi.htm and there was another gaming exhibition that was in the same space a few years later that mainly covered arcade games https://www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/game-on/

Preserving games history has always been important to the organisation since the place opened and I remember in the very early days that had a collection of video games and also events based around them long before even the first PAX was in the USA.

Due to forgetting to take my glasses out of my bag before I cloaked it I could not read the text on the white cards inside the exhibition due to the low lighting (it says to wait to let your eyes adjust if you go down the stairs) but mostly did not need them as I knew a lot of the earlier stuff at least.

I could not actually get to interact with any of the exhibits you could actually play due to seemingly always having people on them but I did listen to quite a few of the short videos you picked up the one headphone to make the video start.

The biggest issue I had with the exhibition is that these are all separate commercial products there is not really a strong narrative between them linking them apart from the whole “gaming worlds” thing and how they defined it. World of Warcraft already has its own lore and documentaries related to it and the stories in the game seem to be a major hobby of some people these days, not even mentioning the story of how the games were made.

As someone who has had an interest in video games for over 30 years even though I mainly am into the music and art aspect of it these days I was still interested in the exhibition and got a lot out of it. The Silksong studio has loaned their development drawings from the game and also has a bank of the game for people to play. There was some debate in the only community that the exhibition would “fail” if the game was not released by the time it opened which aged like milk!

While not something I think people would travel from another country to see like the David Bowie or Stanley Kubrick exhibitions if you are already in town for PAX Australia or in the area and have an interest in games and the worlds created within them I would recommend it.

Exhibition details:

Tickets

Full $30

Concession & Student $27

ACMI Member $26

Child 4 – 15 $17

Flexi Tickets Untimed, undated tickets offer complete flexibility and fast-track entry into the exhibition. $40

Game Worlds is open every day 10am – 5pm, until Sunday February 8, 2026, at ACMI, Federation Square, Melbourne.

Link:

https://www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/game-worlds/

Gallery: