We all have our favourite kinds of games, whether it’s blowing things up with loud and colourful explosions, or maybe giving our adventures a little bit more thought. Different countries often have varying preferences when it comes to their gaming tastes, and that brings us to taking a closer look at what Aussie gamers tend to favour when it come to genres.
Action & Adventure
There are lots of titles that can fit into this category, given how many other genres incorporate action and adventure elements. Nevertheless, fighting and platform games tend to define the action genre, while in the modern era, open-world exploration and questing fits the bill for adventure themed games.
Good examples would be the Fallout or Elder Scrolls franchises, both produced by Bethesda Game Studios, combining both action and adventure with great success. Meanwhile, there’s a growing number of Aussie indie developers getting in on the action, so to speak. In fact, it’s often forgotten that Team Bondi from Sydney were behind LA Noire, published by Rockstar, although many big publishers hire development teams located Down Under.
Casino & Pokies
Since the rise of the internet, online gambling has become one of the most popular entertainment pastimes for millions of Australians. Diversity of games is the biggest appeal, from poker and blackjack to roulette and many more, as players look for the most appealing real money gaming options: https://www.gambleonlineaustralia.com/casino/real-money/
But if singling out one particular niche in terms of popularity, then pokies are by far the first choice for Aussie players. Known as slots elsewhere around the world, there are thousands to choose from and game developers have created fascinating themes around the spinning reels. These can cover everything from fantasy and science fiction to franchise movies like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and much more.
Run & Gun
Also known as “shooters” by many players, run and gun titles are mostly based around war or conflict situations. Arguably one of the most famous is the Call of Duty series, which started off with stories based around the Second World War, then branched into modern day and futuristic scenarios, even delving into alternate history and science fiction. This page lists every release: https://callofduty.fandom.com/wiki/Call_of_Duty_(series)
Indeed, releases in the Call of Duty franchise have regularly topped the gaming charts each year in Australia, and for more than a decade. That popularity has only increased with multiplayer and online play, including esports tournaments based around the titles. Additional big hitters in esports run and gun arena are Counter-Strike and Overwatch, along with Dota 2 and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, among many others.
Role Playing
Essentially, anything that involves controlling fictional characters and questing, usually fits into the Role Playing Game (RPG) genre. Much of the emphasis tends to revolve around storytelling and character development, gaining skills and abilities in various classes like wizards or warriors, as players embark upon quests and adventures. Most are inspired by Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) rulesets: https://dnd.wizards.com/what-is-dnd/basic-rules
As video games, they evolved from the pen-and-paper or tabletop games of the 1970s and 1980s, then gradually appeared as text adventures on early home computers. But in an era of high-definition graphics, The Witcher series by CD Project would be a great example. Likewise, Baldur’s Gate 3 by Larian Studios, which rocketed to the top of the Australian digital gaming charts after being released in 2023.
Merging Spheres
Although the desire to categorise genres has remained commonplace, modern games often feature a mixture of elements from each, and that’s arguably what captivates Australian gamers more than ever before. Technological advances and changing perceptions have also helped, as we head into an era of gaming with more diversity and variety than ever before.