Games for Change 2026 Award Winners Revealed
Games for Change has announced the winners of its 2026 awards, recognising video games and interactive projects designed to drive social impact. The prizes were presented at the G4C Awards Ceremony in New York during the annual Games for Change Festival, hosted by actors Anjali Bhimani and Osric Chau, with organisation president Susanna Pollack praising a year of "remarkable" purpose-driven work from studios and institutions spanning four continents.
South of Midnight from Compulsion Games took the top prize, Game/Experience of the Year, while Consume Me from Hexecutable picked up three awards including Best Narrative and Best Gameplay. Other winners covered categories such as learning, community empowerment, environmental impact and health and wellness, with titles including The Darkest Files, Relooted and ARWell PRO among the honourees. Special recognition awards also went to individuals and organisations for broader contributions, including Jenn Panattoni (Vanguard Award), thatgamecompany (Industry Leadership Award), SpecialEffect (Giving Award) and EA Sports FC 26 (Accessibility Award).
- Games for Change revealed its 2026 award winners in New York.
- South of Midnight won Game/Experience of the Year.
- Special honours went to thatgamecompany, SpecialEffect and EA Sports FC 26.
New here? Start with this
South of Midnight, the acclaimed action-adventure game from Compulsion Games, has been named Game of the Year at the 2026 Games for Change Awards. Games for Change is a New York-based non-profit that champions video games and interactive media designed to tackle real-world issues, from health and education to the environment, rather than purely to entertain. Its annual awards ceremony, held during the Games for Change Festival, is one of the industry's main showcases for so-called "impact" games.
The awards cover a wide range of categories, honouring not just standout titles but also individuals, studios and companies judged to have made a wider contribution to using games for social good. Recognised names this year include Hexecutable's narrative game Consume Me, studio thatgamecompany, disability charity SpecialEffect, and EA Sports FC 26 for accessibility work, reflecting how the ceremony spans both indie creators and major publishers.
Beyond the prizes themselves, the event matters as a barometer of how the games industry engages with social causes, giving visibility to smaller studios and non-profit projects that might otherwise struggle to reach a wide audience.