Currently 3 active game design grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Worldwide. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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Zoud GameLab is a month-long virtual game jam run by Global Game Jam and Zoud, the UAE's national financial wellbeing initiative, under the theme Make FinLit Fun. Participants build a game that integrates financial literacy in a meaningful way; this is part of the judging criteria, and a scoring rubric is published on the jam page. WHO: anyone aged 18 or over by 15 November 2026, anywhere in the world; solo developers, teams of any size and studios, each member registering individually. Prior Global Game Jam participation is not required. WHAT YOU GET: a share of up to USD 140,000 in prizes and development-support funding; entrants who want to be considered for development funding submit the game, a concept or design document, a two-minute gameplay video and a game budget. A pre-jam learning programme of webinars, resources and expert sessions ran from September. APPLICATION: register and submit on itch.io (and the Global Game Jam Discord). DEADLINE: 15 November 2026 at 23:59 anywhere on earth (the itch.io counter may show 16 November in some time zones).
Rhizome's annual microgrants, running since 2014, fund new creative projects related to digital art and networked culture, especially web-based works. Past awardees include a multilingual archive of printed "Internet directory" books, a browser-based adventure game about caring for "small but alive" creatures, and a free pop-up school in Portland. THIS YEAR'S CATEGORIES: PERMANENCE, with Larva Labs (digital projects built to endure); MISUSE (projects that misuse the technologies they depend on); HANDMADE (non-AI works and handmade digital practices); and CO-OP (cultural artifacts that result from collective online behaviour). TERRELL DAVIS FUND: with Joygill Moriah and Liz Mputu (LVLZ Healing Hub), Rhizome offers additional grants honouring the legacy of digital artist and curator Terrell Davis, for work speaking to Black and Afrodiasporic experiences; projects in any category may opt in. WHO CAN APPLY: artists, hackers, researchers, game masters, designers, storytellers, tinkerers, community builders, scientists, archivists and culture workers, regardless of technical or demographic background. JURY: Rhizome staff with guest jurors Larva Labs and Natalie Stone, Joygill Moriah, Herdimas Anggara and Annie Rau. DEADLINE: 20 November 2026.
She Got Game is a Pro Helvetia mentoring programme promoting equal opportunities in the Swiss and international game industry, supporting the representation of women in management positions through dialogue with experienced international experts from the game industry. The call is aimed at professional game designers who identify as women from the regions of Pro Helvetia's liaison offices: the Arab region, East Asia, South America, South Asia and Vietnam, and West, Central, East and Southern Africa. ELIGIBILITY: Emerging Talents are game developers or game studios whose relevant training or registration (self-employed, sole proprietorship, or company) dates back less than seven years. Selection criteria include digital content for devices such as computers, consoles, mobile devices, or mixed-reality devices requiring a high level of interaction; clearly defined objectives in terms of participation and career; originality, feasibility, degree of innovation, and marketability of the project; and project leaders holding the copyright and rights of use. Excluded: commissioned work and projects that are part of an advertising or promotional campaign, and purely technological projects without obvious narrative and/or aesthetic content. WHAT IS OFFERED: individual coaching and input talks on project development, business strategy and finances, marketing, PR, and pitch training; involvement in a growing community of female game developers; potential access to international trade fairs; CHF 3,000 toward the production of a prototype or demo version; and up to CHF 250 per week toward childcare or children's travel expenses when attending international trade fairs (a budget must be presented in advance). All modules are conducted in English; the programme is a time-consuming commitment of roughly 30 hours over six months, plus potential additional time attending events or trade fairs. APPLICATION: submit a short CV (including education/training, nationality, and residency status in Switzerland), a short description of the current project (type and genre, gameplay, platform, development status, target audience, with relevant visual material, max. 10 A4 pages), a project portfolio, and expectations regarding the programme's objectives. All documents should be submitted in English; if not possible, applications may be submitted in German, French, or Italian. KEY DATES: applications open 1 July 2026; submission deadline 1 September 2026, 23:59 CEST; notification of decision in November 2026; earliest project start 1 January 2027. Apply via the Pro Helvetia application portal.