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Key Information
Registration
Registration for in-person attendance is now closed. Online registration is still open. Please click here to register. Walk-ins will be accepted.
Reception Dinner
Ticket sales for the Conference Reception Dinner are now closed.
Programme
The full 3-day conference programme is here.
Conference Dates
Monday 1 to Wednesday 3 September 2025.
Location
Building 80, Melbourne City Campus, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
Format
In person and online via Microsoft Teams (requires registration).
About this conference
Replaying Japan 2025, the 13th International Japan Game Studies Conference, focuses broadly on Japanese game culture, education, and industry. It aims to bring together a wide range of researchers and creators from many different countries to present and exchange their work.
Hosted this year by RMIT Games, Digital Design discipline, School of Design, RMIT University, organised in collaboration with the Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies (RCGS), the University of Alberta, the University of Delaware, Bath Spa University, DiGRA Japan, Liège Game Lab, l’Université de l’Ontario français and Baruch College.
For further information about Replaying Japan, please visit replaying.jp and rcgs.jp.
For more information about RMIT's Bachelor of Design (Games) program, please visit RMIT Games' graduate showcase.
RMIT Swanston Academic Building (SAB)
Conference Theme
Homebrew: hobbyist games, hacks and (other) homegrown activities
The main theme of the conference this year is “Homebrew: hobbyist games, hacks and (other) homegrown activities.” Here, we conceptualise homebrew in the broadest sense possible, from unsanctioned (mis)uses of proprietary hardware to house-rule-driven riffs on preexisting games.
We encourage submissions that engage with existing homebrew scholarship. Such as historical accounts charting the early adoption of digital technologies (Swalwell 2021; Kobayashi & Koyama 2020), examinations of homebrew’s significance in community formation (Švelch 2013), work that explores the tensions between commercial and amateur game development (Keogh 2023; Vanderhoef 2017) and comparisons between different localised development contexts (Fiadotau 2019), for example.
However, we also encourage submissions promoting a broader understanding of homebrew as a local, social, and community-oriented homegrown activity. This includes, but is not limited to, closely related fan activities such as ROM hacking, speedrunning, and modding, as well as other transgressive and subversive forms of play, including house-rule implementations, translations, and other interpretations and adaptations of games and gaming technologies. We also welcome submissions on related topics currently underrepresented within extant games scholarship.
We also invite papers on other topics relating to games and game cultures in East Asia and the Global South, digital narratives, artificial intelligence and education from the perspectives of humanities, social sciences, business, or education.
References
Fiadotau, M. (2019). Indie and Dojin Games: A Multilayered Cross-Cultural Comparison. Gamevironments, #10, Article #10. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-00107541-19 Keogh, B. (2023). The videogame industry does not exist: Why we should think beyond commercial game production. MIT Press.Kobayashi, N., & Koyama, Y. (2020). The Early History of the Hobbyist Production Field of Video Games and its Impacts on the Establishment of Japan’s Video Game Industries. Replaying Japan, 2(2020), 73–82.Švelch, J. (2013). Say it with a computer game: Hobby computer culture and the non-entertainment uses of homebrew games in the 1980s Czechoslovakia. Game Studies, 13(2).Swalwell, M. (2021). Homebrew gaming and the beginnings of vernacular digitality. MIT Press.Vanderhoef, J. (2017). NES homebrew and the margins of the retro-gaming industry. In Fans and Videogames: Histories, Fandoms and Archives (pp. 111–127). Routledge.
Organisers
Main Organisers:
RMIT Games, Digital Design discipline, School of Design, College of Design & Social Context, RMIT University
Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies
Co-Organisers:
University of AlbertaLeipzig UniversityBath Spa UniversityDiGRA JapanConference Co-Chairs:
James MANNING, RMIT UniversityAkinori NAKAMURA, Ritsumeikan UniversityMartin ROTH, Leipzig UniversityMartin PICARD, Leipzig UniversityMitsuyuki INABA, Ritsumeikan UniversityJames NEWMAN, Bath Spa UniversityGeoffrey ROCKWELL, University of AlbertaRachael HUTCHINSON, University of DelawareProgramme Committee
Keiji AMANO (Programme Committee Chair), Ritsumeikan UniversityShuji WATANABE (Local Committee Chair), Ritsumeikan UniversityHiroshi YOSHIDA, The University of TokyoKoichi HOSOI, Ritsumeikan UniversityJérémie PELLETIER-GAGNON, University of AlbertaTsugumi (Mimi) OKABE, University of AlbertaKazufumi FUKUDA, Ritsumeikan UniversityAkito INOUE, Ritsumeikan UniversityMuneyuki TAKAHASHI, Ritsumeikan University
SAB Building interior
Made possible with generous support from:
Digital Games Research Association of Australia
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.
Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
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