Devolver Digital Will Showcase Games Affected By Trump's Immigration Ban
The Game Developers Conference, the biggest gathering of game-makers in the world, is just a few weeks away, but not everybody is going to be able to join the fun. Thanks to President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration, which bars travelers from Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, and Sudan from entering the United States for 90 days, some devs won't be able to make it to San Francisco to attend the annual event.
But while developers from those seven countries can't attend the conference, their games still can. Indie publisher Devolver Digital is offering to showcase games from developers affected by Trump's immigration ban at GDC, exposing the products to potential publishers, members of the press, and game industry executives.
"GDC is sometimes the only opportunity for a large number of peers and press to play [developers'] games at an event," says Devolver Digital co-founder Harry Miller. "There is no criteria on content or quality, we're simply looking to provide some small presentation for folks that had to cancel plans to come to GDC to share their games on their behalf."
Developers who can't attend GDC due to the ban can send some basic details—the names of their studios, descriptions of their games, and that sort of thing—to fork@devolver.com for consideration. Devolver will prioritize games from developers who already had plans to attend GDC, but otherwise, the field is wide open—Devolver's ultimate goal is to show off as many games as possible.
In addition, developers who can't enter the United States due to the immigration ban but already have GDC tickets should contact GDC directly in order to receive a full refund.
Devolver Digital, the studio behind the super-sneaky shooter Serious Sam, Hotline Miami, and Hatoful Boyfriend, joins a growing number of game developers speaking out against Trump's executive order. Playdots, the company that makes the popular Dots mobile games, pushed a message of unity to all of its players last weekend, while developers like Insomniac, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Blizzard, and Bethesda have all issued statements condemning the immigration ban.