Wednesday, December 4, 2024
Industry NewsNews

WINGS ELEVATE returns for 2023

On Monday, indie game development fund WINGS announced that its indie game acceleration program, ELEVATE, will return in 2023, delivered by Code Coven and sponsored by Netflix. This year’s program will focus specifically on mobile games being developed by teams of women and other marginalized gender folks.

WINGS is an investment fund specifically for indie games developed by marginalized genders. Its mission is to “find talented, diverse teams and fund their high potential games.” The fund’s selection committee is made up of “outstanding women game developers.”

“The success of diverse teams will lead to more unique ideas coming to life, new voices being heard, and new games that cater to a wider variety of players,” the WINGS website reads. “We passionately believe that better representation leads to better creativity.”

The WINGS ELEVATE program is a four-month long global, online accelerator to help marginalized gender developers refine their game prototypes to a pitch-ready state. This year’s program will focus specifically on mobile games. Participants will receive the following benefits from WINGS ELEVATE 2023:

  • Development guidance
  • $10,000 USD Milestone-based stipend to support your team
  • Mentorship from a diverse pool of industry leaders
  • Business fundamentals
  • Pitch guidance for approaching investors/publishers
  • Valuable industry connections & community support

Applications for this year’s program are open until April 28; selected participants will be announced on June 6. Those who are chosen to participate in the 2023 WINGS ELEVATE program will start August 28 and will wrap up on December 15.

Eligible teams have the following requirements to meet:

Your project:

  • Is being developed primarily for mobile (Android, iOS)
  • Has a prototype ready for review
  • Has a project pitch & budget spreadsheet for $10,000 USD

Your team:

  • Has experience working together
  • Is comprised of 60% or more team members from marginalised genders
  • Is ideally composed of 2 – 5 people (Get in touch with us if you have a bigger team!)
  • Are all 18 years of age or older
  • Are all able to commit to 15 hours per week for the programme duration

About The Author