Games for Change (G4C), the nonprofit organization dedicated to harnessing games and immersive media for social impact, has officially announced the winners for the 2026 Games for Change Awards. Chosen from a field of submissions spanning 42 countries, the winners were revealed live at the G4C Awards Ceremony, held during the annual Games for Change Festival in New York.
“It has been a remarkable year for games made with purpose, and these winners show the breadth of it,” said Games for Change President Susanna Pollack. “They come from studios and institutions across five continents, each one turning to a game or interactive experience to say something that mattered to them. That is what we’re celebrating– how global this work has become.”
The 2026 Games for Change winners are:
Game/Experience of the Year
- South of Midnight (Compulsion Games) – WINNER
Indie Breakout Award
- Consume Me (Hexecutable LLC) – WINNER
Best Gameplay
- and Roger (TearyHand Studio)
- Consume Me (Hexecutable LLC) – WINNER
- South of Midnight (Compulsion Games)
Best In Community Empowerment
- Powwow Bound: A Menominee Homecoming (Nebraska Public Media and PBS Wisconsin)
- Relooted (Nyamakop) – WINNER
- The Darkest Files (Paintbucket Games)
Best In Environmental Impact
- Imaginary Atlas, Amazônia (MIT Media Lab + Quanta)
- FACEMINER (Wristwork) – WINNER
- Out and About (Yaldi Games)
Best In Health & Wellness
- ARWell PRO (Augment Therapy) – WINNER
- Camp Movewell (ReNUSHU Team — Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center)
- Year of the Cicadas (Year of the Cicadas Team)
Best In Impact
- and Roger (TearyHand Studio) – WINNER
- Eddie and I (Moosh Studio, Reynard Films, Studio Geppetto)
- South of Midnight (Compulsion Games)
Best In Learning
- Let’s Cook Up a Story! (Jackie Nam and Minami Matsumoto)
- The Darkest Files (Paintbucket Games) – WINNER
- The Fluffle Factory (Nurture Holdings Ltd)
Best In XR & Emerging Media
- A Long Goodbye ( Timescapes & Polygoat) – WINNER
- Climate Station (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
- Eddie and I (Moosh Studio, Reynard Films, Studio Geppetto)
Best Narrative
- and Roger (Developed by TearyHand Studio, Published by Kodansha | Japan)
- Consume Me (Developed by Hexecutable LLC | United States) – WINNER
- The Alters (Developed and Published by 11 bit studios | Poland)
Best Platform-Based Project
- Sesame Street: Magical Beastie Quest (MindTrust)
- MUDEMverse – Platform: Roblox (MELAZETA)
- Planet Planners (Playerthree and BBC Bitesize) – WINNER
2026 Games for Change Special Awards
The G4C Awards also recognized special award honorees for their broader contributions to games and social impact:
Vanguard Award
- Jenn Panattoni – A pioneer of social impact work inside the games industry, Panattoni founded the Xbox Social Impact team in 2018 and built campaigns that generated more than $250 million in value for nonprofits worldwide. She now leads Aizle Impact, an agency building cause partnerships across gaming and entertainment.
Industry Leadership Award
- thatgamecompany – For two decades, thatgamecompany has reimagined what games can be, with titles including Flower, Journey, and Sky: Children of the Light that put emotion and human connection at their core. Led by co-founder and game director Jenova Chen, the studio’s Sky: Children of the Light has passed 300 million downloads since its 2019 launch.
Giving Award
- SpecialEffect – Since 2007, the UK charity SpecialEffect has helped people with physical disabilities play video games through individually tailored assistive technology, including eye-control and adapted controllers. Its occupational therapists and gaming specialists build bespoke setups for hundreds of players each year and share what they learn as free, open resources.
Accessibility Award
- EA Sports FC 26 (EA Sports) – One of the first sports titles to include a High Contrast Mode usable in competitive play, alongside text-to-speech, colorblind filters, customizable subtitles, and gameplay assists that widen access for players with a range of disabilities.
For more information on Games for Change, visit https://www.gamesforchange.org.
