Happy New Year, game developers!

Thank you for making 2019 yet another remarkable year for the International Game Developers Association. This year marked the 25th anniversary of the IGDA serving game developers across the world. Our board, headquarters team, and all of the leaders of our Chapters and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have done an incredible job at expanding our outreach and strengthening our programs and services over the last 25 years. We look forward to entering this new decade stronger and better at supporting game developers around the world.

The IGDA underwent some important changes last year; one of which was the appointment of a new Executive Director (that’s me!). After three years of serving on the board, I began serving as the Executive Director in July 2019.  It’s been a rewarding 6 months that have shown me the passion and inspiring dedication we have in all of our communities.

We also launched the IGDA Discord and a new website all with the aim of growing and better serving our community, and we’re spinning up even more programs to provide resources and knowledge to game developers.

This year also saw the creation of new Chapters, SIGs and partner relationships. We welcomed the following communities to the fold:

• Chapters:
  • Belarus
  • Southern Poland
  • Kansas City, US
• Special Interest Groups:
  • Climate SIG
• Studios:
  • OKLetsPlay
  • Paracosma Inc.
  • Hatchlings
  • PlayEveryWare
  • Grease Monkey Games
  • TAG Esports LLC
  • Winterborn Games
  • AcceleratXR Inc.
  • Indie Games Mexico
  • Starform
  • Lightfox
  • BSC Games
  • Q-BA-MAZE Inc.
  • DASM
  • Rogue Games
  • GameTop
  • Oculus Start
  • Mad Data
  • Wizards of the Coast
  • Mohawk Games
• Partnerships:
  • Dell
  • Amazon
  • DeVry University
  • Skillz
  • Backtrace
  • Two Hat Security
  • RiotLoc

Finally, we amplified the voices of game developers in our community in important discussions, one of such being the Federal Trade Commission’s workshop on loot boxes. We are happy to say that your voice was heard! The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced that they were adopting part of our call to action to disclose loot box odds.

As the new year starts, we launch into full preparation mode for the Game Developers Conference (GDC). Last year, our events at the GDC were incredibly successful. We had a networking event at the Children’s Creativity Museum and a VIP Luncheon, where we presented the MVP award to IGDA Pakistan and Game Global Jam. We’re looking forward to another successful conference and year!

Thank you for being a part of the IGDA community and stay tuned for what we have in store for 2020