What is the NZGDA?

The New Zealand Game Developers Association is a not-for-profit incorporated society formed in 2001 to champion, support and grow video game development in New Zealand.

Our members include commercial game development studios, individual developers and artists employed in the industry, self-employed freelancers, indie game developers, teams applying gaming expertise to health and education, gamification designers, retro gaming enthusiasts, students, educators and researchers.

Anyone in any role in the industry is welcome to join: artists, animators, game designers, programmers, product managers, producers, testers, community managers, customer support and entrepreneurial indies.  Our members develop for a range of platforms: smartphones, tablets, websites, PCs/Mac/Linux, virtual reality, consoles, Facebook, alternative-input controllers and even board games.

We have over 3000 individual members and over 50 studio members (who employ over 700 people).

Our Activities

Our key areas of focus include:

Support the growth of our studios and businesses through government advocacy, strategic partnerships, and our annual Kiwi Game Starter competition.

Improve professional development opportunities for our members through workshops, local networking events, and our annual NZ Game Developers Conference.

Partner with tertiary education programs and technical schools to improve industry-related skills and promote game development as a professional career choice.

Promote diversity and inclusion by engaging in initiatives that encourage underrepresented groups to join and flourish in the industry.

Promote game development as an innovative, creative, high potential sector to the public, media, business and government.

You can read the Constitution of the NZGDA here.

Our Strategic Goals for 2023

The NZGDA Board finalised its Strategic Goals for 2023 in February, which can be read in more detail here.