Since the Independent Games Festival & Summit started, there have been multiple major IGF prizewinners that have gone on to much larger exposure, garnering increased distribution, a bigger profile, and getting lots more gamers playing their art. Here are some of the highlights:
1999 - Vicarious Visions, now a major handheld / console developer, honored for Terminus.
2003 - Super X Studios' Wild Earth, a photographic game based around a worldwide safari, takes multiple prizes and subsequently becomes a motion simulator ride and a Wii title.
2005 - Fan favorite N wins the audience award, and as N+, releases as a hit XBLA title, as well as notable Nintendo DS and Sony PSP versions.
2005 - Multi award-winner Alien Hominid receives publishing deals in the U.S. (via O3 Publishing) and Europe(via Zoo Digital), much critical acclaim, and even spawns mobile and Xbox Live Arcade versions.
2006 - Grand prize winner Darwinia gets both digital distribution via Valve's Steam system and U.S. retail distribution from new indie label Cinemaware Marquee.
2007 - Design Innovation winner Everyday Shooter is signed by Sony for distribution on the PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network, after Sony's John Hight plays the game at the IGF Pavilion during GDC 2007 - Everyday Shooter's Jon Mak also appears at the inaugural Independent Games Summit.
2008 - The team behind IGF Student Showcase finalist Narbacular Drop is hired by Valve. The game is reworked into Portal and goes on to win the coveted Game Developer's Choice "Best Game" award for 2008, as well as numerous game of the year accolades.
2008 - Design Innovation winner Braid debuts on Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade to notable success.
2008 - Excellence in Audio winner Audiosurf launches on Valve's Steam distribution service and goes on to become the highest selling game of February, outselling even Valve's own Orange Box (including Team Fortress 2 and Game Developer's Choice "Best Game" winner Portal.)
2009 - Petri Purho's Crayon Physics Deluxe spawns an iPhone version courtesy of Hudson, plus a popular PC downloadable version.
2009 - The Behemoth's follow-up to Alien Hominid, the IGF-winning Castle Crashers, tops XBLA charts to critical acclaim.
2009 - IGF multi-award winner World Of Goo launches as one of the best-selling, best-reviewed WiiWare titles of all time, alongside a popular PC version.
2010 - The team behind 2009 Student Showcase finalist Tag: The Power of Paint are hired by Valve to implement new paint gun mechanics into Portal 2.
2010 - Playdead's stark monochromatic platform title Limbo is a smash hit on Xbox Live Arcade, following its summer 2010 release, picking up a 2011 Game Developers Choice Award for Best Visual Arts.
2011 - Multiple award winner Minecraft has now sold almost 16 million copies and spawned a worldwide cult around its charming open-world game design.
2011 - Nidhogg becomes a live-event multiplayer mainstay and a regularly showcased game at fighting game tournament Evo.
2012 - Grand prize winner Fez is widely ported to consoles and handheld devices, where it cumulatively sells over one million copies.
2012 - After a string of PC and console releases, Spelunky is quickly embraced as a speedrun & livestream community favorite and critically lauded for its smart use of procedurally generated levels.
2013 - Richard Hofmeier's Cart Life sweeps multiple awards including Grand Prize and becomes one of the year's most talked about games.
2014 - Multiple award winning Papers, Please is hailed by many -- including renowned publications like Wired and The New Yorker -- as the best game of the year.
2015 - 80 Days, winner of the IGF Excellence in Narrative award, garners numerous accolades, including TIME Magazine's Game of the Year, and the UK Writers' Guild Best Writing in a Video Game award for Meg Jayanth.
