Games for Change Festival to expand and move to new cities

Games for Change (G4C) has announced that its annual festival will be hosted in a new city during odd-numbered years, starting with Arizona in 2027.

As GamesBeat reports, the New York-based nonprofit organisation has partnered with Arizona State University (ASU) for next year’s event, taking place October 11 to 13.

As part of the partnership, ASU’s Endless Games and Learning Lab will support G4C participants and offer access to game design courses.

Both parties will also collaborate on research projects exploring AI, game ecosystems, and how games can support workplace learning.

The G4C Festival will return to New York in even-numbered years. It will resume a three-day schedule due to increased attendance, which reached roughly 1,000 in-person visitors this year.

“Bringing the Festival to Arizona State University is about widening the room, so more of the creators, developers, educators, and researchers doing this work can be part of it,” said Games for Change president Susanna Pollack.

ASU Endless Games and Learning Lab founding director Mark Ollila added: “This partnership recognises the power of microcredentials in building competency-based learning paths that are flexible, meaningful and future-facing.

“Our lab focuses on ‘make to learn, play to learn and learn to earn’ – using games not just as content, but as a mechanism for skills development, exploration and economic opportunity.”

G4C also partnered with London Games Festival earlier this year for its inaugural Games for Change London Summit, which took place on April 15.

The summit was designed to “bring together industry professionals, educators, policymakers, and innovators to explore how games can inspire positive social change.”

Last week, G4C announced the winners of this year’s awards, with Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight receiving the Game and Experience of the Year awards.

Hexecutable’s Consume Me received Best Narrative, Best Gameplay, and the Indie Breakout Award, while Thatgamecompany won the Industry Leader Award.

It also published its Raising Good Gamers report, which offers a roadmap for better supporting families who play games by grounding parental concerns about gaming in “evidence rather than fear.”