Rress release from Gamedev.world on fundraising event from March 27th to April 3rd in support of the GDC Relief Fund spearheaded by WINGS, featuring a Pay-What-You-Want games bundle, a public game jam, and free online live talks and Q&A translated in the worlds’ largest languages.
With the news of GDC's official cancellation, many marginalized developers are facing the reality that they’ve invested what sometimes comes down to years of savings into an event that will no longer happen. The combination of the uncertain circumstances surrounding the virus and the high risk and cost of healthcare in the United States has caused many developers from around the world to reconsider travel, but many feel beholden to their itinerary whether the event happens or not due to the sizable investments they’ve made.
Even though GDC has committed to refunding the tickets of attendees that haven't cancelled, many developers around the world do not have a way to refund their visas, lodging, and travel costs. Many worry that they did not just lose the opportunity of attending this years' conference, but also the possibility to re-route the funds spent to other opportunities throughout the year.
In response, gamedev.world is announcing a week-long public fundraising effort, starting March 27th until April 3rd. For the duration of the week, gamedev.world will present -for free, live-translated, and online- various talks from both marginalized developers and the sponsors that made the event possible. They will also be raising donations throughout, and every single dollar the event makes will go towards our partners at the GDC Relief Fund spearheaded by WINGS and the marginalized developers most affected by these cancellations.
To further support that fundraiser, gamedev.world is also organizing a bundle and game jam in collaboration with itch.io. All submitted games -whether resulting from the jam or from developers that have made their existing games available- will be made available as a Pay-What-You-Want bundle, with all proceeds going towards the same goals of alleviating the financial burden of the developers most affected by these events.
“Even in the early stages of organizing these efforts, we can tell from the response to the initiative that the entire industry is concerned about the repercussions that current events have had on marginalized developers in our international community”, said Rami Ismail, Executive Director at gamedev.world, “As we continue to organize these efforts, we’re heartened by the solidarity and excitement amongst all layers of the industry to support those who are affected most by the heartbreaking cancellation of such a central event in our industry. While there is no way to replace all the opportunities of the Game Developer’s Conference, gamedev.world hope to help alleviate and minimize the loss of opportunity and the financial damage to those that had hoped to attend.”
###
How to help or apply?
For more information about how to financially sponsor the fundraiser event (all excess funds will go directly towards The GDC Relief Fund spearheaded by WINGS), participate in the jam (March 27th-29th), or submit games for the bundle (deadline March 25th), please contact info@gamedev.world. The ability to donate to the fund will be available closer to the fundraising event, and any donation amount is welcome.
The ability to apply for the The GDC Relief Fund spearheaded by WINGS is available via WINGS information page. Stay tuned for more information on that.
gamedev.world successfully reached over 30.000 individual developers (GDC: 27.000) in over 40 countries and across 8 of the world’s most spoken languages during their first live event in 2019.
For media inquiries, please contact info@gamedev.world.