Melbourne, Australia – The Australian XR Festival returns to Melbourne on 20–21 December 2025, following sold-out sessions in Sydney in 2024 and a successful event in Melbourne in 2023.
This year’s main events will take place at the St Kilda Life Saving Club, St Kilda Beach—a location inspired by the festival’s creative planning sessions held at iconic beaches like Burleigh Heads, Queensland.
“We are at our most creative and happiest when we’re at the beach,” said Festival Director and Founder, Matt Kirby. “But our original plans for the 2025 festival were almost the complete opposite of that.”
The highlight of the event, the Australian XR Festival Awards 2025, will celebrate leading local and global talent across creative tech industries including PC & Console Gaming, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Creative AI, Animation, and Digital Art. Previous finalists and winners have included international powerhouses such as Sony Pictures VR, Ubisoft, XR Games, Atari, Sugar CS, Shared Memory, and Nathie, alongside acclaimed Australian innovators like EyeJack, Toast Interactive, and Phoria.
The Awards Ceremony will conclude the festival on 21 December 2025. In addition to the awards, the festival will feature a dynamic mix of industry events and two days of public showcases, giving audiences the opportunity to experience some of the world’s most cutting-edge interactive works firsthand.
“Public access to these experiences is vital for the exposure and growth of the industry,” added Kirby.
The Australian XR Festival was founded following the success of the Qld XR Festival, which launched in 2021 and continues to grow annually. The festival team extends heartfelt thanks to the communities of Melbourne and Sydney for their ongoing support, and to the global creative community for their outstanding submissions.
“Year-on-year, we’re seeing remarkable growth—in both the quality of submissions and the number of people attending to experience them,” said Kirby.
