DigitalNoob

Activision has just announced the names of the two independent games developers who will receive $250,000 in cash prizes

The Independent games movement has been growing for some time now, but it’s still tough for indie developers to get their games made considering the significant expenses involved. There are a number of ways developers can get a lot of the funding for their games up-front, and one of those ways is entering Activision Publishing’s Independent Games Competition. While Activision Publishing is a subsidiary of possibly the largest videogame company in the world, this competition is a chance to help out the little guy and finance small, innovative projects. Activision has promised that the winner will retain full ownership of their intellectual property. Dan Winters, Activision’s Vice President of External Development, promises that the purpose of the competition is to assist developers and ‘help make their dreams become reality.’

Activision recently announced the winners of this year’s competition, which was judged by Indiecade. Those of you who are familiar with the indie games scene will know Indiecade from their eponymous games festival and various other efforts to promote independent games.

The first place and a cash prize of $175,000 went to Christopher Hui for Iron Dragon, an action flight adventure designed primarily for smartphones and tablets. The second-place winner and recipient of $75,000 is Michael Stanton, who designed a multiplayer action game called Planet Smashers (pictured above), which is built on an engine he designed.

I really do hope Activision is sincere in its desire to give indie developers a helping hand and I also hope to see more big names in game development and publishing holding similar competitions.