Adam Lancman shaped the Australian Games Industry as we know it today.
Adam started out in games as the financial director of Beam Software in the early 80s, climbing the ranks to CEO, and later a founding member of Atari Melbourne House where he oversaw such games as Way of The Exploding Fist, Gex, Shadowrun, Grand Prix Challenge and Transformers.
For more than two decades Adam travelled extensively, spending three months of every year overseas, promoting the Australian industry internationally and was the strongest advocate of his day.
When the GDAA was established in 1999, Adam was the logical first president; a knowledgeable, engaging, and well-loved spokesperson for the Australian Games Industry.
The GDAA was launched at Australia’s first premier industry conference event, Australian Game Developers Conference (AGDC), which Adam would continue to throw his support behind and assist with each year.
Adam at ADGC, 2004
Adam would go on to win a Career Achievement Award at the inaugural 2002 AGDAs, as well as countless AGDAs for Atari Melbourne House.
Under the banner of the GDAA, Adam fought hard, working with government to get games recognised as a creative industry, educate stakeholders on games for the future economy, and worked tirelessly to raise our international profile.
Adam sadly passed away in 2005. The first GDAA Awards (later renamed to the AGDAs) honoured Adam in 2006 with his titular award, The Adam Lancman Award for Best New Start Up.
In 2014, the award was updated to honour Adam’s lifetime achievements, and to honour individuals who followed in his footsteps in advocating for the Australian Games scene.
Adam presenting the AGDAs, 2003
The current Adam Lancman Award (Excellence in the Industry) honours an individual or individuals who have helped the video game industry advance to a better place, either through facilitating a better game community from within, or by reaching outside the industry to advocate for video games.
We continue to honour Adam’s memory, to keep his passion and spirit alive through younger generations of Australian Game Developers, and to inspire them with stories of Adam’s work and early advocacy, of all the foundations he laid for us and to remind us all of the work and care that has been put into our industry.
