I sat in on a student demo where a two‑minute build stopped the room cold. You could see talent and uncertainty share the same look. That moment is exactly what Geoff Keighley and Mark Cerny are trying to change.
Geoff Keighley, the producer behind The Game Awards, and Mark Cerny, PlayStation’s lead architect, have launched the Nova Games Foundation, a fellowship program that will grant $100,000 (€92,000) to 20 student game designers each year. Applications open in December for students in the class of 2026 and 2027, and the initiative partners directly with game schools worldwide.
A lecture hall full of prototypes. The headline is simple: founders with credibility are putting real capital behind students.
I’ve watched industry figures promise support before and then fade; this is different because Keighley and Cerny are funding it themselves. Keighley told GameFile he won’t take equity or recoup grants—this is philanthropy—and Cerny framed the effort as paying it forward as he winds down a long career in hardware and systems design.
Keighley and Cerny have seeded the foundation with multi‑million‑dollar donations (each roughly $2–3 million, about €1.8–2.8M) and are inviting other donors to join. Josef Fares of Hazelight Studios has signed on as a founding donor and mentor, and the foundation will also promote recipient projects across industry channels you already use—X, Steam, and festival circuits like The Game Awards.
A lunch table conversation about budgets. The funding model is designed to move prototypes into finished games.
The baseline grant is $100,000 (€92,000) per recipient. Projects showing strong early results can receive follow‑on payments up to $500,000 (€460,000), delivered against development milestones. Importantly, recipients retain ownership of their games; Nova is not taking equity.
What is the Nova Games Foundation?
Nova is a university‑partnered fellowship that gives direct grants to student creators, pairs them with mentors, and amplifies their work. Think of it as targeted seed funding plus industry exposure—like a lighthouse for talent guiding small teams toward publication.
Course catalogs list partner logos. The list of schools signals where the foundation will find applicants.
Thirteen institutions are named as partners, including NYU and USC in the U.S., Abertay University in Scotland, Cnam‑Enjmin in France, TH Köln in Germany, and RMIT in Australia. That network means Nova will tap existing programs and faculty to nominate and shepherd candidates.
Who is eligible for the Nova Games Foundation fellowship?
Eligibility starts with students in the class of 2026 and 2027 enrolled at partner schools. The foundation will open applications in December; each year up to 20 recipients will be selected from across the partner network.
A coffee shop critique can turn into a studio. The industry impact will depend on follow‑through and distribution help.
Nova’s grants are intended to fund teams through the most precarious stages: prototyping, hiring needed talent, porting to consoles, and launching on storefronts like Steam or PlayStation. The foundation will also publicize projects, connect teams with mentors, and feed promising work into festivals and publisher conversations.
How much grant money does Nova Games Foundation give?
The program starts with $100,000 (€92,000) per recipient and offers up to $500,000 (€460,000) in milestone‑based follow‑on support for standout projects.
I’ll say this plainly: money alone won’t build careers, but funders with industry clout and distribution know‑how tilt the odds. If you’re a student using Unity, Unreal Engine, or releasing on itch.io or Steam, Nova could be the oxygen mask that keeps risky creativity alive—will the rest of the industry step up to match that bet?