The IGF takes place during
Celebrating indie games. Celebrating indie creators. Celebrating you. Submissions are now open for the 2025 Independent Games Festival!
The 2025 Game Developers Conference is now accepting submissions for the 27th annual Independent Games Festival—the longest-running festival, summit, and awards showcase celebrating independent games and their creators. Game developers and studios have until Monday, September 30 at 11:59pm PT to enter in all categories for the coveted IGF Awards.
The Independent Games Festival will nominate six finalist standout titles in each of these categories: Excellence in Visual Art, Excellence in Audio, Excellence in Design, Excellence in Narrative, and Best Student Game. The Nuovo Award, which honors the title that “makes the jurors think differently about games as a medium,” will have eight finalists. Six finalists will be selected to compete for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. The IGF Audience Award will be decided by a public poll that features all the competition's finalists.
IGF 2025 will also see the return of the alt.ctrl.GDC Award presented onstage during the ceremony. alt.ctrl.GDC showcases some of the most unique, offbeat, and innovative controllers in modern games, and GDC attendees are invited to try out the games and vote for their favorite at the Expo Floor exhibit.
Finalists will be selected by hundreds of industry peers across game development and media, with specially selected juries picking the winners of each award. Last year, Visai Games' Venba took home the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. It also won Best Debut and the Social Impact Award at the 2024 Game Developers Choice Awards.
For those making interesting or experimental works who, because of the entry fee, might otherwise not enter the contest, you can apply for a waiver on the $75 entry fee by Monday, September 23. If you're interested in becoming a judge for the 2025 IGF Awards, more information will be available in the coming weeks on how to apply.
IGF is part of GDC 2025, which will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center from March 17 to March 21, 2025.
Entries will be accepted through Monday, September 30 at 11:59pm PT, with finalists announced in January 2025. Submission applications are available here. For more information on the 2025 Independent Games Festival, including submission specifics, rules, and frequently asked questions, please visit the IGF website.
GDC is going virtual for its 2024 GDC Showcase, all about career development! For more information, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDCShowcase hashtag on social media.
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