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| (Image Source: Playing For The Planet/Games For Change) |
Games For Change (G4C), the leading nonprofit that empowers game creators and innovators to drive real-world change, recently announced the kickoff of the 2025- 2026 Games For Change Student Challenge, a global game design program inviting learners ages 10–25 years old to tackle pressing world issues that address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) through creativity, play, and purposeful design.
Now in its eleventh year, the Student Challenge has reached more than 70,000 students and almost 2,000 educators and faculty across 600 cities in 91 countries, inspiring the creation of over 6,600 original student-designed games that connect learning to action. From November 2025 to April 2026, participants will design and submit games for consideration in regional and global competitions with Game Jams taking place worldwide throughout the season. “The G4C Student Challenge continues to show that when young people design games about real-world issues, they see themselves not just as players, but as problem solvers and changemakers. Through game design, students learn to think critically, collaborate, and build solutions with purpose. In a world shaped by AI and constant change, durable skills like problem solving, critical thinking, and game design will allow all learners to thrive in their communities and worldwide,” said G4C Chief Operations and Programs Officer Arana Shapiro. This year, students will explore three new themes developed with world-class partners to inspire civic imagination and problem-solving:
Outgrow Hunger (supported by World Food Program USA) – Design a game where players care for a natural space that feeds and supports a community.
Own The Road (supported by GM) – Design a game that inspires safe behavior in and around vehicles and reduces the potential risks of the road.
All In For Nature: Reefs & Rainforests (supported by Playing For The Planet) – Design a game that tells the story of a reef or rainforest under threat, and how people unite to protect it.
Two grand-prize winners will receive a total of $20,000 in scholarships, generously provided by Take-Two Interactive and Endless. Winners and finalists will be celebrated at the Student Challenge Awards on May 28, 2026 in recognition of exceptional creativity, social impact, and innovation in student game design. “With 3.4 billion players worldwide, the video games industry has an unprecedented ability to reach and inspire audiences across cultures and our next generation of leaders. We’re excited about our collaboration with Games for Change, empowering students to use their creativity to spotlight the threats to reefs, rainforests, and our climate. Together, we’re transforming play into a powerful tool for awareness, education, and action,” said Playing For The Planet Head of Operations Lisa Pak. “More than 319 million people face severe hunger around the world today. Through the ‘Outgrow Hunger’ theme, we’re giving the next generation a way to explore the root causes of food insecurity and imagine solutions through research, game design, and play. This collaboration helps students connect their creativity to one of the most urgent challenges of our time — ending hunger for good,” said World Food Program USA Chief Marketing Officer Jessamyn Sarmiento. Additionally, G4C is expanding its educator support with the launch of the G4C Learn website, the world’s largest online resource library featuring lesson plans, tutorials, and toolkits to guide students, teachers, and faculty on topics like game design, game-based learning, eSports, career pathways, and more. In partnership with Global Game Jam, educators worldwide can receive funding, training, and support to host Student Challenge Game Jams in their classrooms and communities.
“Games turn learning into challenges students actually want to take on. When students design games to tackle pressing global problems affecting their communities, they become curious about the world around them, experimenting, and bringing ideas to life. The best learning happens when students take risks, fail forward, and collaborate, and that’s exactly what the Games for Change Student Challenge empowers,” said Luna Ramirez, a Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher at Thomas A. Edison CTE High School based in New York City. Educators, parents, and learners ages 10–25 can now register for the 2026 Games for Change Student Challenge and access free tools and resources at learn.gamesforchange.org. This year’s Student Challenge is made possible through the generous support of key partners including Endless, General Motors, Verizon, Motorola Solutions Foundation, Take-Two Interactive, World Food Program USA, Playing For The Planet, Unity, and Global Game Jam.
