[Download Press Relase in PDF]
San Luis Obispo, California -- January 21, 2015. The Global Game Jam, Inc. released today the annual jam’s keynote video featuring short speeches by Mitu Khandaker-Kokoris, Amora Bettany, Pedro Medeiros and Reiner Knizia. Often called the world’s largest game creation activity, the Global Game Jam (GGJ) brings together tens of thousands of game makers who meet in hundreds of locations around the world for the 48 hour annual event. With approved participating locations in 79 countries, the GGJ 2015 participation statistics are expected to surpass all previous records.
2015 Keynote Video Released
The Keynote video is shown at every jam site and traditionally marks the start of the activity. The first speaker is Mitu Khandaker-Kokoris, the head of the UK based Tiniest Shark Ltd. and creator of the award winning indie game Redshirt. Next, the Brazilian duo of Amora Bettany and Pedro Medeiros of MiniBoss game studio will share some of their wisdom about character design. Lastly, legendary German board game designer Dr. Reiner Knizia (Knizia games) discusses the digital/physical hybrid approach to game development. The Keynote video is now available from the GGJ website and on YouTube.
Record Participation Expected
Global Game Jam 2015 has already surpassed the previous record in most registered international locations and countries (also held by Global Game Jam). Less than one week before the event, 524 jam sites in 78 countries are continuing to take jammer registrations. The total participation is expected to reach close to 25,000 this year with the number of games produced estimated to reach 4500 or higher. Global Game Jam extends its worldwide footprint by welcoming nine new countries and territories who are offering jam sites for the first time ever. These are: Belarus, Cuba, Ecuador, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guernsey and Luxembourg.
Intel Leads the 2015 Sponsors
GGJ is a volunteer-driven 501(c)3 non-profit corporation based in San Luis Obispo, California. The company is committed to providing the best game jam experience without dues or registration fees. GGJ thanks its major sponsors for making the annual event possible. The 2015 list includes Intel (Platinum level) in addition to six Gold level sponsors: Facebook, Game Lab at American University, GitHub, iMasterArt, Microsoft and Unity.