Annual Report 2008

Welcome to the IGDA's 2008 Annual Report. The Board has decided to stick with our tree-saving format and present the below info in web-format only. In addition to summary comments from 2008 IGDA board chair Jen MacLean, we report on our financial results, highlight accomplishments from 2008 and thank those who have made it all possible.

Dear Members and Friends:

I’ve often been asked what the IGDA is. It’s easy to answer with impressive statistics; we have over 15,000 members; we host great events like the Leadership Forum; we support 20 Special Interest Groups and more than 60 local chapters so that game developers can enjoy meaningful interactions with their peers. I’ve also quoted our mission when talking about the IGDA: to advance the careers and enhance the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community.

But in the past year, I’ve come to believe that the best way to describe the IGDA is as a vital participant in the interactive entertainment industry. We are, at our best, a voice for developers who feel their concerns are unheard or unanswered. We are a forum for sharing experiences, whether virtually on our website, or in person at our events. We are a support for wonderful community-driven events like the Global Game Jam. We are the pre-eminent organization that exists for and because of game developers, and we demonstrated all of these characteristics in 2008.

As the Chair, I’m proud of what our volunteers, members, and staff have accomplished in this momentous year, and I thank everyone involved with the organization for their support. We are facing a particularly challenging time for our industry; the global economic downturn is impacting our business, and we need to be more proactive on behalf of our members than ever before. As an organization that relies on volunteers to meet our goals, we are only as strong as your support. Please consider increasing your involvement with the IGDA, whether through a local chapter, a Special Interest Group or Committee, or an event like the Leadership Forum. I look forward to working with you to continue to improve the lives of game developers everywhere.

Best,

Jen MacLean
- '08 Chair - IGDA
- SVP, Business Development - 38 Studios
jen -at- igda -dot- org

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 for 2008, 2007 and 2006. Note that 2008 numbers are preliminary and unaudited, and that 2006 and 2007 numbers have been restated due to a shift to complete accrual based accounting methods in 2008.

Simplified Financials

Income Statement
January - December 2008, 2007, 2006 (US$)

Balance Sheet
As of December 31st 2008, 2007, 2006 (US$)

Statistics

Check the news archives, the press release index and the newsletter archives for a complete run down of news and updates from 2008. Here are some choice highlights from the year:

Credit Standards:
This year, our very own Jen MacLean was voted one of the Top 25 Game Industry Heroes for 2008 for her devotion to tackling the problem of developer credits. "The lack of accurate, fair, and consistent credit standards in the industry poses a serious problem for every game developer," she said.  "By refusing to acknowledge their contributions, studio management limits the professional recognition and opportunity for development that every contributor deserves." The Credit Standards Committee is set to release version 1.0 of the standards at GDC 09'.

1st Global Game Jam:
The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the first of its kind: a game jam that takes place in the same 48 hours all over the world! Planning for The Global Game Jam was initiated in 2008, with the event slated to start at 5:00PM Friday, January 30, 2009 and run through 3:00PM Sunday, February 1, 2009, (all times local). All participants in the Global Game Jam were constrained by the same rules and limitations, with each time zone having one distinct constraint.

AIAS Awards Partnership:
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) and the IGDA signed an agreement enabling IGDA members to vote on the craft awards presented at the Interactive Achievement Awards (IAAs). The IAAs, now in their 12th year, are supported by all of the major video game publishers and developers in the industry. Their purpose is to recognize the top creative and commercial successes each year with Academy, and now IGDA members, voting on the winners.

GDC '08 Members Only Party:
An annual tradition, IGDA held its members only party once again at GDC. Over 2,000 members attended this event, which was held at the Westin Hotel in San Francisco.

Memorials Project:
The IGDA's Game Preservation SIG launched the IGDA Memorials Project to remember the lives and work of members of the game industry. The Memorials Project contains biographies of professionals from around the world, and is open to anyone who worked on a game, or with the industry, in the past. In addition, because we believe the IGDA stands for more than just video games, there are Memorials for designers of paper-based games, as well as notable individuals from the toy industry, critical game studies, and computer science, whose work has greatly affected the ways in which we understand, play, and design our games.   It is our firm intent that the IGDA Memorials Project will help demonstrate our seriousness as an industry and an art form that cares deeply about its individuals and their contribution to the medium. We recognize our community as being a continuous line of individuals stretching from the past and into the future rather than as being defined solely by the latest titles on the wall. We should remember these individuals as people whose creative passions helped shape the medium to become what it is today and whose legacy continues to direct where it will go in the future.

Leadership Forum:
This year brought a second successful IGDA Leadership Forum, held November 13th-14th, with over 350 producers, team leads, and studio directors in attendance. The forum focused on advancing the state of the art in game production and management through its three complimentary tracks; the Personal Track, The Project Track and the Management Track. Videos of this event are free to view on-line and high resolution DVD copies of the event are available for purchase.

SIG Releases Book:
The IGDA's Writing SIG released their second collaborative book, "Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing", which was published by A K Peters.

2008 Game Developers Choice Awards Honor Jason Della Rocca:
The 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards at GDC presented Jason Della Rocca with The Ambassador Award, which honors an individual who has helped the game industry advance to a better place, either through facilitating a better game community from within, or by reaching outside the industry to be an advocate for video games to help further the art. Congrats to Jason.

IGDA's 2008 MVPs:
So much of the IGDA's success and progress is due to the support and involvement of countless volunteers from the community. Each year, the IGDA hosts a "VIP Luncheon" at GDC as a small gesture of thanks. In 2008, the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards were awarded to Susan Gold (Education SIG, etc), Mike McShaffry (Austin chapter, Leadership Forum, etc), and Wade Tinney (NYC Chapter, Casual Game SIG, etc).

Susan Gold

Mike McShaffry

Wade Tinney

Chapters:
IGDA's global network of chapters continues to serve as a focal point for developers from around the world. In 2008, there were new chapters established in Huntsville Alabama, Indonesia, Vietnam and London Ontario.

Pittsburgh Chapter Studio Crawl

Shanghai Chapter China Joy Party

A huge word of thanks and pat on the back to the 16,000 members who have faith in the IGDA, the 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.