Game developers and enthusiasts: It's time for make your voices heard. Voting is now open for the 2025 Independent Games Festival Audience Award!
The 2025 Game Developers Conference organizers have announced this year's finalists and honorable mentions for the 26th annual IGF Awards, part of the longest-running festival, summit, and showcase celebrating independent games their creators.
Jenny Jiao Hsia's Consume Me leads with five nominations, followed by Panic's Despelote, from creators Julián Cordero and Sebastian Valbuena, which is nominated in four categories. Three other titles have three nominations each: INDIKA (Odd Meter / 11 bit studios), Caves of Qud (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games), and Thank Goodness You're Here! (Coal Supper / Panic). All of these games have been nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, alongside Mossmouth's UFO 50.
This year's nominees were picked from a list of almost 500 entrants, and now it's time for you to weigh in and pick your favorite. Make sure to only vote once: A unique, valid email address is required. We will not distribute or contact you through your email address and we will delete your information after the poll has closed.
Voting will close on Friday, January 31st at 11:59PM PT. Have fun and thanks for playing!
The Independent Games Festival Awards will take place Wednesday, March 19 at 6:30pm PT on the Main Stage at GDC 2025, and will be available to watch live for free via the GDC Twitch channel. For those eager to see the awards for themselves, make sure to buy a pass for GDC 2024!
GDC returns this March 17-21, 2025, and our Early Rate is currently live (for a limited time)! For more information, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDC2025 hashtag on social media.
Subscribe to the GDC newsletter and RSS feed.
Get regular updates on GDC social media—including Twitter/X, Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.