Hi everyone, 

I hope you’re all staying safe and healthy. 

In my region, November often marks a period of gratitude, community and intentionality. In the spirit of the times, I truly wish that you are doing well physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, what have you. 

This year has been pretty difficult for many of us for a number of reasons: massive layoffs, industry volatility, economic uncertainty, geopolitical conflict, loss of innocent lives, natural disasters…I could go on. I truly believe it is times like these when support from our friends, our colleagues and our peers can go a very long way. 

The IGDA has been working on several initiatives to better support and empower game developers all around the world. Firstly, the IGDA is teaming up with the IGDA Foundation, Women In Games International (WIGI), Global Game Jam, Take This, and Game to Grow on a fundraising and awareness campaign called Stronger Together in Games. The campaign will officially launch next week on Giving Tuesday and will lead to a 24-hour live stream featuring industry speakers and spotlighting developer resources. This is all happening on December 08, 2023, starting at 8:00 am Pacific Standard Time. As a coalition of games industry nonprofits, we have come together to consolidate and share an abundance of resources that will support developers and players alike during this difficult time. You can find out more information about the Stronger Together in Games campaign by clicking here. We truly hope to have your support in this amazing initiative. 

Secondly, please mark your calendars for the IGDA Worker Empowerment and Unionization in Games panel scheduled for Tuesday, 12 December, 2023 beginning at 12pm Central Standard Time (6pm UTC). We’ve organized this resource to help game developers all around the world better understand the nature of unions and the impact they can have at their workplace. We’re also hosting an organizing workshop immediately following the panel discussion. For anyone interested, you can register for the unionization panel and workshop today by clicking here. 

I’d also like to share a few reminders for the remainder of the year. We have two indie showcases coming up this Saturday, 25 November, 2023. First, we have ThanksGaming Live: Celebrating Women-led Indies beginning at 9am PST on Saturday, 25 November. ThanksGaming Live is a showcase in partnership with Women in Games International (WIGI), and we’re holding a Steam Spotlight sale in connection to the event as well. If you’re a women-led team, or if your game features women, femme identifying, and nonbinary characters and stories with positive representation, I invite you to submit your game to the Steam sale. If interested, you must get this in soon so we can get it in the sale event which is live now! Submit your game here.

Following ThanksGaming Live, we are hosting the Queer Indies Showcase from 5-9pm PST in partnership with GaymerX and MidBoss. We are excited to spotlight games and studios with empowering LGBTQIA+ representation. You can join both showcases on Twitch or YouTube. We hope to see you there, so please feel free to stop by and ask the devs or streamers any questions that you have. 

Finally, we are still accepting signups and submissions for the WE CREATE Android Game Jam in collaboration with IGDA Foundation and Global Game Jam and in partnership with Google Play. We are excited to serve the Latin America and Asia regions with this exciting event. The theme was recently announced – Bonds and Bridges – and we can’t wait to see what you submit. If you want to learn more about participating in the Game Jam, you can click here. 

I just want to leave this last announcement as a humble wish…

I hope you stay safe and healthy and well, and I ask that you extend kindness from your heart to everyone around you, as we never know what someone else is going through. 

Thank you,

Dr. Jakin Vela

Executive Director, IGDA