Nominees have to fulfil the following main criteria to be eligible for the IG50 2025:

• They must either live in the UK and/or have the right to work in the UK.

• They can’t be in full-time education past August 2025

• They come from a working-class or low-income background (see next question)

• They either

  • haven’t worked full-time in the games sector before or

  • looking to re-enter the games sector and have not worked in the same role before. e.g. a previous programmer wanting to be a community manager.

Whether you’re currently unemployed, a graduate or someone seeking to change careers from another sector; if you have a vision for the role you want to do, we want to hear from you.

We’ve gathered a list of commonly used criteria that indicate a working-class or low-income background in the UK.

Our working definition is that at least one of the following situations was true for you for a period of one year or more before the age of 18:

• You were eligible for free school meals in a UK school (whether or not you claimed them).

• Your parent(s) or guardian(s) received Universal Credit, Income Support, ESA, DSA, Housing Benefit, or a similar support programme.

• You lived in social housing, temporary accommodation, or experienced unstable housing. Examples might include growing up in a council flat, living in a hostel, or staying with friends or relatives because of housing issues.

• You spent time in care or were looked after by the local authority.

• Your parent(s) or guardian(s) earned a combined income under £35,000 per year.

• Your family experienced difficulty affording basic necessities such as food, heating, housing, or transport.

• Your parent(s) or guardian(s) worked in one of the following kinds of roles:

  • Routine or manual labour (e.g. cleaner, warehouse worker, delivery driver)

  • Skilled trades (e.g. hairdresser, plumber, mechanic)

  • Clerical or support roles (e.g. receptionist, call centre staff)

We ask this to help us better understand who our campaign is reaching, and where we can do more to support access into the games industry. It also helps us build a clearer picture of how the job market can better reflect the UK’s full range of backgrounds and experiences.

If you meet any of the above but don’t feel comfortable sharing which one, you can select “One or more of the above, but I don’t want to disclose the details” — this option is here to protect your privacy on a trust-basis. Your responses will never be shared with judges, the public or any third parties and only serve to create anonymised data reports and check your eligibility.

We also know this list may not cover every experience. If you identify as working-class or from a low-income background but don’t see yourself reflected here — especially if you didn’t grow up in the UK — feel free to select “Other” and tell us a bit more. We’re committed to listening and learning from the real experiences people have had.

Yes, please! We encourage everyone who meets the criteria and has with a vision for a games role to put themselves forward. We understand that it can be hard to talk about why you think you’d be a good fit – especially if you’ve been trying to get a job for a while.

We would love for you to think about your skills and past projects – maybe ask some friends or family to tell you what they appreciate about you and how you could use that.

If you want some support with wording your nomination, you could also drop into the Into Games Discord and get feedback from others on how to complete your entry.

No, but you can encourage them to apply and offer your support!

If you want to complete your application form, here is what you can prepare:

• Ensure you meet this year’s eligibility criteria, as the first few questions will check candidates on this

• Your CV

• Working links to your portfolio or a work sample

• Links to LinkedIn or other social media presence

• Your dream role

• An answer to the question “Which skills make you a great candidate for this role?”. Tell the judges what experience, tools & transferrable skills make you a great match for your dream role (max. 800 characters)

• An answer to the question “Tell us about one project you worked on to grow your skills for this role: What's the project & what did it teach you?”. The project can either be from a course or degree, work, or a passion project like a game jam or solo-project. This is your chance to display your progress & ability to learn (max. 600 characters)

• Optional: Have a little pitch for your winner card ready, that completes the sentence “You should hire me as a <your dream job> because…” (max. 120 characters). This can also be provided once you’ve won.

Only whether you are part of a low-income or working-class background, since this year’s initiative is only target at this group.

The other question is optional.

We ask for this information for two reasons:

1. It allows us to ensure we showcase people from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds.

2. We use the data to increase our platform reach if we notice a lack of nominations from certain backgrounds; we want this list to be representative of the diverse talent that’s out there.

We do not share the details of the criteria with any of the judges, studio partners or third parties. These answers will only be seen by the organisers of the competition to confirm eligibility criteria.

On the application form, you’ll be asked to share whether you identify part of an underrepresented or disadvantaged community or group. It is not a mandatory question, but it helps us see what kind of demographics we reach and who we’re missing.

Here are our definitions of the terms in the form. We are aware that it is easy to accidentally exclude groups, so have also added the option “Other” so you can add terms of your own, which we will review.

• Women: Individuals who identify as a woman, regardless of their assigned sex at birth.

• Non-Binary and Gender-Diverse Individuals: Individuals whose gender identity does not exclusively align with the binary categories of male or female. This encompasses non-binary people, genderfluid or genderqueer individuals, and those with other diverse gender identities.

• LGBTQIA+: Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, or other diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. It is inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities beyond heterosexual and cisgender.

• Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC): Individuals from underrepresented ethnic minorities or communities.

• Neurodivergent: Individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning difficulties (e.g. dyslexia, dyscalculia), conditions affecting coordination (e.g. dyspraxia) or other neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g. Tourette syndrome). This includes self-diagnosis and clinical diagnosis.

• Disabilities & long-term physical or mental conditions: Individuals with physical, sensory, cognitive, or mental health impairments that may impact their daily functioning or interactions for more than 12 months. Conditions might impact hearing, mobility, vision, information processing, learning & concentration, mental health (e.g. depression, anxiety) or stamina & breathing.

If you currently work within the games industry in any function, that excludes you from participation.

If you currently don’t work in the industry, but had a different role previously within the games space, your application will be considered, if it is part of a discipline change.

This is because we’re focussing on providing access and exposure to those who have not yet had the chance to build a network and contacts within the industry space.

🎨Art spans all kinds of creative roles that produce 2D or 3D art, such as Art or Technical Director, Character Artist, Concept Artist, Environment Artist, Storyboard Artist, UI Designer or other related roles. For Technical Art, please apply to “Animation and VFX”

💃Animation & VFX includes roles that bring 3D assets to live within the game or work on the more technical side of art. Roles include Animators, Technical Animators, Lighting Artists, Graphics Programmers & Technical Artists as well as VFX artists.

🔊Audio includes all roles revolving around sounds, such as Composer, Sound Designer, Foley Artist, or Voice-Actor. We also recommend Audio Programmers apply to this category.

✍🏽Design & Narrative includes all roles that involve designing systems and solutions in the realm of the games, such as Economy Designer, Game Designer, Gameplay Designer, Level Designer, Narrative Designer, System Designer and User Experience Designer, as well as Design Managers.

⚙️General is for the nuts and bolts that hold a studio together. In this category, we welcome all other core roles in a studio, such as game translators, accounting and finance roles, lawyers, senior managers, IT & backend engineers, Office Managers & Receptionists, HR specialists, DEI consultants, Accessibility consultants, Personal and Studio Assistants and any other role you can think of – if it’s not on the list elsewhere, this is the category for you.

🤝🏻Marketing & Community is for any roles that engage with customers and the audience in any way, this might include Campaign Managers, Community Managers, Directors & Assistants, Games Journalists, Games Publishers, Graphic Artists, Marketing Assistants & Managers, PR Managers or Performance Marketing Leads.

📅 Production is for the folks who oversee the development process of video games, managing schedules, budgets, resources, and teams to ensure projects are completed successfully and on time, Roles in this category include Producers of all levels, Coordinators, Business Development Managers, Agile Delivery Managers and any type of Project Manager.

🖥️Programming and Technical is for all sorts of coding specialists and technical roles like Tech Artists, AI Programmers, DevOps, Engine Programmers, Fullstack Programmers, Gameplay Programmers, Generalist Programmers, Graphics Programmers, Network Programmers, Physics Programmers, VR or AR Programmers. If you are applying to be a Technical Artists, we recommend selecting Animation & VFX as a category instead, and Audio Programmers apply to Audio.

🧪 QA professionals ensure the quality and functionality of video games by identifying and reporting bugs, glitches, and issues. Roles in this category include QA Testers and Leads, QA Analysts, QA Engineers, Playtesters, Test Automation Specialists or Localisation QA.

If you’re eager to work in the games industry but have no idea which role or sector is right for you, we recommend you spend some time researching the many different roles available and find the one that is the best fit for your skills and interests.

You can find information about potential careers here.

We do appreciate that some people might be both passionate artists and accomplished developers at the same time and have a hard time picking. In that case, you can apply for up to two different categories, as long as you have a portfolio piece for both.

In general, we want you to show us your best and favourite piece of work — something you think best represents your skill and knowledge in the area you’d love to work in.

You can watch previous Elevate Session on YouTube to get expert insights on good portfolio design.

Here are some pointers:

• 🎨Art, Animation & VFX: You can link to your portfolio or a single piece that best represents your current style and the type of work you love to do. The Entry Level Skills Hub has fantastic examples of portfolios for Environment, Concept, Character Artists or Animators for inspiration!

• 🎵 Audio: Link to a show-reel on YouTube any other portfolio page you might have!

• 🖥️Programming: You could link to a GitHub page (make sure there are plenty of comments) or a development blog of any kind where you show what you have been working on or learning. You can see some example portfolios on the Entry Level Skills Hub.

• ✍🏽Design & Narrative: Your piece could be a Game Design Document, a concept for a Level Design, or a link to a prototype or game jam project, with notes of your involvement. If you are more on the narrative path, you could show off some sample writing, whether it’s a dialogue, some bark lines or a lovely piece of lore. The Entry Level Skills Hub has fantastic examples of portfolios for Technical Designers and Game Designers.

• 🤝🏼Marketing & Community: You can share a marketing or community campaign plan, copywriting samples, events you helped plan, or any other piece of work you’d love to share with us. This can be for an actual past client or a fictional customer. he Entry Level Skills Hub has fantastic examples of portfolios for Community Managers or Marketing Assistants.

• 📅 Production: You could share either a blog post or case study on a project you have managed, a project plan, or maybe a document where you detail a problem you encountered while coordinating a program and how you resolved it. You can see some example production portfolios on the Entry Level Skills Hub.

• 🧪QA: You could submit a well-structured bug report, a testing plan for a real or fictional product or any type of blog or writing on testing methods — whatever you feel best shows off your skills! You can see an example QA portfolio on the Entry Level Skills Hub.

If you don’t fall into any of the above we have the exciting wildcard category “General”. In the ideal case, you can work to a personal website or portfolio. Alternatively link to a blogpost, a sample of work or some other writing that relates to the role you want to work in! Here are some ideas:

👋 HR? Send us a paragraph about your vision for a people team in a games studio!

🌈 DEI? What is your plan to make our industry more accessible?

💬 Localisation? Share a piece of translated lore or a punny dialogue - maybe with some notes about your choices and challenges!

💼 See yourself as a Senior Manager in the games space? What insights and perspectives can you bring to the table the industry is missing out on?

📊 Analytics? What cool game stats have you collected that the world should know about?