2005 Annual Report

Welcome to the IGDA's 2005 Annual Report. The board has decided to save some trees this year and present the below info in web-format only. This move also frees us to focus just on the most relevant data from '05... In addition to summary comments from IGDA board chair Bob Bates, we report on our financial results, highlight accomplishments from 2005 and thank those who have made it all possible.

A Word from the Chair

Dear Members and Friends:

"Of what practical use is the IGDA to you as an individual?”

This was the first question I asked last year as the new chairperson of our organization.

Thousands of you answered. As a result, we changed our mission statement to add “career advancement” to our traditional focus on community and advocacy. Ever since, we have been creating the infrastructure that will turn those words into reality.

We have already begun to see the fruits of those labors. By the end of 2005, our online community had grown to over 100,000 people. Our paid membership grew by 18% and is now about to break the 10k mark (a whopping 2100% cumulative growth since we started counting back in '99). We are becoming, as our former chairperson Kathy Schoback put it, “A force to be reckoned with.”

More changes are headed our way. 2006 will see an overhaul to our website, forums, and SIGs that will allow members to communicate with their professional peers more easily than ever before. We have begun an employment contract certification project as part of our ongoing Quality of Life efforts. We have initiated new research projects that should put useful information in the hands of our members, proving once again that “knowledge is power.”

Meanwhile, the extraordinary volunteer effort that drives the org continues. This year we had nearly 500 volunteers doing everything from writing white papers, to organizing grassroots lobbying efforts, to running chapter meetings, and more. I can only marvel at the cooperative spirit and dedication that drives game developers everywhere to help each other improve their lives.

Best wishes,

Bob Bates
Chairperson, IGDA
bob -at- igda -dot- org

Simplified Financials and Statistics

These charts provide a snapshot of the IGDA’s financial health and overall progress. The simplified Income Statement outlines the revenue sources of the organization along with the various classes of expenditure. Despite strong support from the community, the IGDA suffered a $48k loss for 2005. This is largely due to a combination of the reduced membership fee and unexpected expenses related to the IGDA's move to self-management at the start of 2005. Past cash reserves enabled the IGDA the weather the temporary storm and plan for a more pragmatic budget for 2006 (which is already being surpassed given overwhelming membership growth during the first quarter of 2006).

Simplified Financials

Income Statement
January - December 2005 (US$)

Balance Sheet
As of December 31st, 2005 (US$)

Statistics

IGDA Members

Registered Free User Accounts

Studio Affiliates

Industry Partners

Forum Posts

'05 Highlights

Check the news archives, the press release index and the newsletter archives for a complete run down of news and updates from 2005. Here are some choice highlights from the year:

Advocacy

Quality of Life Summit:
Hosted at GDC 2005, the Summit provided a rare opportunity for studio heads, producers and HR managers to come together in a neutral forum to find answers and inspiration to improving quality of life. The Summit served as an important milestone in the IGDA's ongoing efforts to improve developer quality of life. All the materials (including ppt files, summary notes and video recordings) were archived online.

Demographics Report:
The Game Developer Demographics report helped to answer the basic question of "who makes games?" During July 2005 the IGDA ran a demographics survey to assess workforce diversity, receiving nearly 6500 responses. It was a first-of-its-kind report that garnered a lot of attention from the media and industry members alike.

Game Developers Choice Awards:
The IGDA presented the 5th annual Choice Awards at GDC 2005. Regarded as the most meaningful industry awards, the Choice Awards allow the IGDA and its members to recognize achievement and innovation among peers. Half-Life 2 took home Best Game. Arcade maverick Eugene Jarvis was recognized for a lifetime of achievement. A video archive of the ceremony is available at the Choice Awards site.

Anti-Censorship Victories:
Sadly, fighting the unnecessary government regulation of games kept the IGDA as busy as ever in 2005. The IGDA helped -- mainly via grassroots letter writing campaigns -- to thwart anti-game bills in California, Michigan, Florida, Illinois, and Minnesota.

Student Outreach:
The IGDA's GDC scholarship program was as popular as ever with 300 students applying for scholarships to attend GDC, and another 200 students applying for scholarships to GDC Europe. New for the '05 program was matching each scholar to an industry mentor. The IGDA also set up a Student Game Development Club framework to focus students who wish to gain hands-on experience.

Community

Chapters:
The global network of IGDA chapters continues to serve as a the focal point for developers from around the world. In 2005, IGDA chapters worked to host over 150 total meetings! Chapters that were established during 2005 include Kiev, Calgary, Madrid, Berlin, Berne, Hyderabad, Barcelona, Bangkok and Quebec city.

Special Interest Groups:
As a bottom-up tool for developers to self-organize, the prolific nature of SIGs continues to amaze. 2005 saw the release of reports and white papers on casual games, persistent-world games, artificial intelligence and mobile games. Further, it was encouraging to see how the IP Rights SIG was able to leverage its network to collect prior art examples for the infamous '690 patent case. In 2005, SIGs were established on the following topics: casual games, sex and games, alternate reality games and mobile games.

Events:
The IGDA hosted two members-only special events during 2005: the ever-popular annual social at E3 and a party at GDC Europe. Additionally, IGDA leaders participated in multiple industry events throughout the year, from SIGGRAPH to DiGRA and the Montreal Game Summit to the Korean Game Conference.

Online/Web:
To facilitate group collaboration, Mediawiki was installed to serve as the IGDA's own wiki. Similarly, a site-wide installation of Moveable Type has enabled more and more of the IGDA's chapters and SIGs to leverage the power and ease of blog-based updates. Also, two new members-only features were established: a member profile and directory system, and member email forwarding aliases (eg, name@member.igda.org).

Thanks

A huge word of thanks and pat on the back to the 9000+ members who have faith in the IGDA, the nearly 500 volunteers that keep the engine running, the Studio Affiliates that push to get their people involved and the Corporate Partners that support the work of the org.