1 source 3m ago
Games for Change Maps Its UN Ties as Japan Weighs Its Own Community
Sho Sato, a board member of IGDA Japan, used an October 24, 2026 session at Osaka Serious Game Day to lay out how Games for Change operates outside the United States.
Reporting from 1 source: 4Gamer.net.
Why it matters
Sato framed Japan's task as building its own serious games community, even though the leverage he described sits with UN agency programs and a festival that drew more than 2,000 people, leaving Japanese work visible at the awards rather than inside the machinery.
Key Facts
- Sho Sato, a board member of IGDA Japan, gave a session on Games for Change at Osaka Serious Game Day on October 24, 2026, at Osaka Electro-Communication University's Neyagawa Campus.
- Games for Change was founded in 2004 and is a nonprofit based in the United States.
- G4C will hold the Games & SDGs Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2026.
- Kodansha Game Creators Lab's Darekare won the Best in Impact Award at the 2026 G4C Awards, and the board game Ankuru!! was a tabletop finalist.
- The Games for Change Festival ran more than 90 sessions and drew more than 2,000 people in 2026, and is scheduled for Arizona State University in 2027.
Speaking at Osaka Electro-Communication University's Neyagawa Campus, he described the nonprofit's work with UN agencies on climate and urban planning, a 2026 festival that ran more than 90 sessions, and an awards slate where Kodansha Game Creators Lab's Darekare took Best in Impact.
G4C's 2026 Games & SDGs Summit goes to Nairobi, where the UN Environment Programme and UN Human Settlements Programme are headquartered. Sato said both agencies are deeply involved in using games. UNEP's Playing for the Planet program targets the industry's climate impact while pushing environmental awareness to its user base, and participants range from small studios to Bandai Namco and Sony. UN-Habitat uses Minecraft for participatory planning in slum areas, collecting residents' knowledge of unlit streets at night and rabies risk from stray dogs.
The festival drew more than 2,000 people across more than 90 sessions in 2026. It has been held in New York for many years and is scheduled for Arizona State University in 2027.
Written with AI by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.
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