News

NZGDA President Chelsea Rapp talks to Newshub Nation about why the NZ Game industry was shown so much support in the 2023 budget announcement    

The New Zealand Game Developers Association has welcomed the government’s budget decision to support the sector. The Budget, released on Thursday, introduced a Game Development Sector Rebate of 20 percent to help attract and retain gaming studios in New Zealand, which have been facing significant pressure from Australian and international incentives. The new 20 percent […]

We say yes it is!  TV3’s “The Project” reports on this very question, talking to NZGDA President Chelsea Rapp, Stephen Knightly, PikPok and BlackSalt games Click here for the video      

Joy has joined the NZGDA this week as Executive Director so we asked her a few questions to get to know her more:   What is it about the NZ Game Dev Community that inspires you? I am insanely creative across a wide range of things, so the work being done in NZ’s Game Dev community absolutely […]

The digital technology sector in Aotearoa is one of the fastest growing segments of our economy and has been a critical source of domestic economic growth. Given the pace of change internationally and the competition globally for those with technology skills, growing and upskilling the technology workforce is an urgent priority. We are now calling […]

What do Game Developers do over a weekend to help discuss & combat disinformation and online bullying?  A game jam – an event where participants work in teams to attempt to make a game from scratch over a 48-hour period. Embassy Wellington was proud to partner with the New Zealand Game Developers Association (NZGDA ) to […]

New Zealand game industry grows over 47% NZ video games industry achieves record growth but faces mounting Aussie threat. New Zealand’s digital video games industry boosted revenue by almost 50% to a record $407 million over the past year, employing more than 1000 people for the first time, but maintaining growth is proving challenging with […]

The results of the 2023 Executive Board Elections were announced last night at the 2023 Annual General Meeting! You can learn more about the board members here.

The New Zealand Game Developers Association and the US Mission to Aotearoa New Zealand are partnering together to create Koia Jam, a game jam competition devised to stimulate New Zealand to think about anti-bullying, anti-harassment, and anti-disinformation online. While there are long-standing policies, infrastructure, and regulations in place to ensure the safety of children on […]

The NZGDA invites applications to attend a free workshop on virtual production with international DP Mike Berlucchi on the set of ‘Our Flag Means Death‘, in Auckland on Saturday 26 November The workshop will provide the opportunity to learn all about Virtual Production on a significant scale, from expert technicians engaged on an actual working […]

We are pleased to introduce the nominees for the 2022/2023 NZGDA Executive Board! Below you will find information on each candidate (these bios are also available as a PDF: 2022/2023 Candidate Election Bios). Ballots will be emailed to all eligible NZGDA members on Tuesday November 8th at 9:00AM and voting will remain open until November 18th […]

Are you a community minded game developer who wants to grow New Zealand’s game development sector? Then consider standing for the 2021/2022 New Zealand Game Developers Association board! The NZGDA welcomes diverse candidates from across New Zealand, in any role in the industry or craft who are current members of the Association. Some of the […]

Chelsea Rapp, Chairperson, NZ Game Developers Association Over the last few months the NZGDA has been talking with the Government to respond to aggressive Australian incentives, which threaten to halt the growth of NZ’s interactive screen and game development sector, and to introduce an industry development plan. We’ve met with Hon Dr David Clark, Minister […]

This Article was wirtten by the University of Canterbury, click here for the original source. At an event celebrating the conclusion of the New Zealand Game Developers Association (NZGDA) Conference last week, Rare Parrot Games’ Warrior Chef was announced the winner of the organisation’s 2022 Kiwi Game Starter Competition. Proudly sponsored by the University of […]

Two become one VR powerhouse as M Theory and Oddboy merge to form Mighty Eyes! The two companies behind the acclaimed game Wanderer have officially joined forces to become Mighty Eyes. Based in Aotearoa (New Zealand), M Theory and Oddboy came together in 2016 to develop VR time travel adventure game Wanderer which took the […]