IGDA LGBTQ+ SIG Pride Game Jam 2026 is now open — and this year’s theme couldn’t be more timely

May 1, 2026

The IGDA LGBTQ+ SIG Pride Game Jam 2026 is open for entries from today (May 1st), and this year the theme is hard to ignore. Asylum — drawn from the UNHCR’s definition of the term — asks participants to engage with what national and international instability actually does to people’s lives, and to think seriously about how games can represent that.

It’s one of two major events the IGDA LGBTQ+ SIG is running this May. If you’re a developer with a portfolio to sharpen rather than a game to build, their Portfolio Review: Improvement Boogaloo is also open for submissions from today (May 1st), we covered it earlier this week.

The jam’s deliberately political brief fits the organiser. The IGDA LGBTQ+ SIG has never been shy about its stance, and co-organiser ENTRY LVL brings a similar directness — it’s a volunteer-run community built specifically for people trying to break into games, free to access, and explicitly welcoming to neurodivergent and LGBTQIA2S+ developers.

The jam runs across May and June on itch.io, with judging taking place 1st–14th July. It’s open to anyone 18 and over, no membership of any of the organising groups required. Prizes include Steam vouchers and IGDA membership, with placements awarded for first, second, and third. Judges are drawn from the IGDA LGBTQ+ SIG, the IGDA Women in Gaming + SIG, and ENTRY LVL.

The partnership goes wider than the two lead organisers. The IGDA Women in Gaming + SIG is a contributor, IGDA and AAPI in Gaming are sponsors, and Trans Resistance Massachusetts will be streaming submitted entries as part of their Drag for a Cause fundraising performance. Part of any bundle sales or tips from that stream will go back to the involved organisations.

Between the IGDA LGBTQ+ SIG’s 500-strong membership and ENTRY LVL’s 940-member Discord, with an unusually high monthly retention rate of around 80%, there’s a real community behind this one. Worth entering, and worth watching.