{"id":851006,"date":"2026-08-11T04:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T04:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/851006\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T04:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T04:08:14","slug":"people-in-japan-thought-we-made-footy-up-pro-jank-footy-the-video-game-taking-australian-rules-to-the-world-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/851006\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018People in Japan thought we made footy up\u2019: Pro Jank Footy, the video game taking Australian rules to the world | Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Try explaining Australian rules football<\/a> to anyone outside Australia and \u201cit sounds like you\u2019re making it up\u201d, says David Ashby, the multi-hyphenate comedic mind behind deeply silly spoofs such as Italian Spider-Man and Danger 5. \u201cEighteen players a side, running around on a cricket oval with a rugby ball that has to be bounced every so often and gets kicked between posts \u2013 like, what the fuck is happening?\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years ago at a fantasy footy barbecue, Ashby had a brainwave: why not make a video game where Australia\u2019s strange national sport becomes even stranger the more you play?<\/p>\n

Pro Jank Footy reimagines the sport as a high-octane fever dream, where every time your opponent kicks a goal, you get to change one rule so the game gets increasingly janky (and hilariously stupid). Your opponents turn into seagulls. One player becomes massive. A labrador tries to steal the ball. Everyone loses their arms. The bouncing DVD logo appears and gets in the way (if it hits the corner, you win). Meat pies with legs storm the oval to provide energy boosts. A power-up called \u201cDad\u2019s Car\u201d sees a Ford Falcon hoon around the grounds. A third team joins in.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 2026 video game Pro Jank Footy, created by David Ashby and a team of developers<\/p>\n

Ashby is rattling these off with delight; there are more than 150 in the game. \u201cThere\u2019s one called Sore Neck which flips the game upside down so you get a sore neck. There\u2019s another called Where\u2019s the Remote, which switches the channel to HDMI 2,\u201d he says, ticking off his fingers. \u201cIt is very dumb stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re sitting in Melbourne\u2019s Great Northern hotel with Ashby\u2019s friend and fellow footy nut, Broden Kelly of Aunty Donna. Right next to us is an old-school arcade cabinet for Pro Jank Footy, which is already attracting informal tournaments among pub-goers. Kelly, who did the commentary for the game, has to speak over the sound of his own voice blaring out of the cabinet. \u201cIt\u2019s so sick,\u201d he says. \u201cThis will live beyond me.\u201d<\/p>\n

double quotation markThis is Japan\u2019s way to learn about Australia\u2019s culture. This is our Ghost of Tsushima.Broden Kelly<\/p>\n

Ashby says: \u201cI heard a story about a friend\u2019s housemate who went on a date with some dude and he was like, \u2018Oh, do you want to go to the Great Northern? There\u2019s a footy game there\u2019 \u2026 I hope they hooked up, because that guy rocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, Pro Jank Footy will be released on all the major consoles, worldwide. \u201cWhich means, very humorously to me, there is a chance this game is the thing that most people are going to know footy from,\u201d Kelly says, before both men descend into giggles.<\/p>\n

Artist Hyemin Yoo designed mascots for made-up teams, such as the Ceduna Doonas and the Freecastle Fizzies. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Footy is a cultural touchstone in Australia: if you ever need to fill silence with an Australian, you can bring up the weather or ask who they barrack for. \u201cWhen we showed Pro Jank in Japan, a lot of people were like, \u2018Wait \u2013 is footy a real sport?\u2019 They thought we made it up,\u201d Ashby says. \u201cThen they saw the meat pies running around and they were like, what the fuck is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is their way to learn about Australia\u2019s culture,\u201d adds Kelly. \u201cThis is our Ghost of Tsushima<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite all the jokes, this is a point that Ashby and Kelly take very seriously: that Australia must shed its cultural cringe and stop explaining itself to the world, in the same way South Korea and New Zealand have.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a long time we were told Australian content does not travel, or you have to explain it to everyone,\u201d Ashby says. \u201cThat\u2019s absolutely bullshit, Bluey<\/a> is the biggest show in the world. We think, \u2018Oh, nobody\u2019s interested in footy.\u2019 No, it\u2019s exotic! It\u2019s a fucking strange sport. And an awesome one that should be shared. Don\u2019t be shy about meat pies and red cordial. Americans have no idea what the fuck that is. Who cares! Share it with the world anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I think it\u2019s always a good idea to make a game that your dad can play so you can absolutely destroy him.\u2019 Photograph: Christopher Hopkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Before Pro Jank, Ashby had never made a video game: he was known for his collaborations with film-maker Dario Russo, particularly the spy comedy Danger 5. But after that inspirational barbecue in 2024, he banged out a last-minute application for Screen Australia\u2019s Emerging Gamemakers Fund, formed his own studio Powerbomb Games<\/a> and assembled a tiny crack team of programmers, animators and friends in Adelaide to build a demo. When Pro Jank Footy debuted at the South Australian Games Exhibition in 2025, it won best in exhibition and development went into overdrive.<\/p>\n

Ashby is determined that anyone can enjoy Pro Jank: \u201cI think it\u2019s always a good idea to make a game that your dad can play so you can absolutely destroy him.\u201d Pro Jank doesn\u2019t feature any gambling references so kids can play it and he eschewed the industry\u2019s reliance on \u201cfucking loot boxes, all that shit \u2013 nah, nah, make a good game and make it affordable\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also wanted it to be a couch co-op \u2013 a game made to be played with friends in the same room, rather than only online as many multiplayer games are these days. \u201cThe only couch co-ops are like Moving Out or Overcooked, which are just doing jobs. I don\u2019t want to do that!\u201d Ashby says. \u201cAnd so many sports games are very serious. When I try to play Pro Evolution or Fifa, it just makes me angry. I feel inept. I\u2019m 39. Show\u2019s over. I can only learn so much now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do play NBA 2K,\u201d adds Kelly, \u201cand 15-year-olds call me awful things.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Ashby and Broden Kelly with Pro Jank Footy mascot Mr Footy. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Pro Jank\u2019s aesthetics are inspired by Ashby\u2019s childhood memories of footy in the 1990s, when the AFL went particularly big on club cartoon mascots. He brought in Adelaide-based South Korean artist Hyemin Yoo to design mascots for all his game\u2019s made-up teams \u2013 like the Ceduna Doonas, North Problem, the Freecastle Fizzies and the Port Noarlunga Chips. \u201cWe wanted that 80s Asian video game, seizure-inducing vibe, like Street Fighter,\u201d Ashby says.<\/p>\n

Russo, Ashby\u2019s frequent collaborator, wrote the music and team songs, \u201cwhich ride the line between complete piss-takes and sincere\u201d. And Kelly recorded the game\u2019s commentary in four hours, which he remembers as \u201cthe worst day of my life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was taken by a madman into the hills of Adelaide \u2013 which has the highest number of serial killers per capita, worth noting for the record,\u201d he says. \u201cThen I genuinely had 1,200 lines to read, which I did over and over. I was screaming for four hours. It was fucking full-on! My ear started bleeding.\u201d His favourite line, which is included in the game<\/a>, came out as his delirium peaked: \u201cThis is all just pixels and one day we will all die!\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly and Ashby are from Adelaide and they passionately vouch for it as a creative hub. \u201cBoth the AFL and comedy can be very guilty of saying we have two hubs, Sydney and Melbourne, where everyone creative and cool is \u2013 and that\u2019s not true. Because the people who made this game are strange weirdos from Adelaide,\u201d Kelly says. \u201cDavid and Dario made Danger 5, the best Australian comedy of this century. It\u2019s what Australia does best, like Amyl and the Sniffers and King Gizzard \u2013 bold choice makers, weird vibes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashby loves hearing stories of people\u2019s experiences playing Pro Jank Footy. His favourite came from one of the game\u2019s writers, who showed it to his kids. \u201cThey loved it so much that they stopped playing it and went outside to kick the footy and started changing the rules,\u201d he laughs. \u201cThat\u2019s just awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pro Jank Footy is out on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch and PC on 13 August in Australia and 12 August everywhere else<\/p>\n