Mark Cerny, the celebrated architect behind both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, and Geoff Keighley, the well‑known host of The Game Awards, Summer Game Fest and Opening Night Live, have joined forces to create the Nova Games Foundation. This initiative is a charitable fellowship program specifically designed to provide financial support, mentorship, and industry connections to the next generation of video‑game creators.
According to a report from Game File, the Nova Games Foundation is an independent effort that has no formal ties to The Game Awards or to Sony’s PlayStation brand, despite Cerny’s long‑standing relationship with the console maker. The core of the program is a series of grants that will be awarded each year to twenty promising designers.
Each recipient will receive a base award of $100,000, intended to cover development costs, prototype creation, or any other expenses that arise during the early stages of a project. In addition, roughly a quarter of the fellows—those whose concepts demonstrate exceptional promise—will be eligible for an extra infusion of up to $500,000. This larger sum is meant to accelerate projects that have already shown strong potential, allowing them to move more quickly from concept to playable experience. Beyond the monetary component, the foundation places a strong emphasis on mentorship.
Awardees will be paired with seasoned veterans from the gaming industry, giving them access to practical advice, technical guidance, and strategic insight that can be difficult to obtain for newcomers. Importantly, the fellowship respects the creators’ autonomy: participants retain full ownership of their intellectual property and are free to seek publishing deals or platform partnerships that align with their own vision. Nova will act as a facilitator, offering introductions to publishers, platform holders, and other key players, but it will not take equity stakes or demand a share of future revenues.
The application window opens in December and will remain open through 2026 and 2027 for graduates of thirteen partner university programs located across eight different countries. These partner institutions include TH Köln in Germany, RMIT University in Australia, Cnam‑Enjmin in France, Abertay University in Scotland, as well as the collaborative program between New York University and the University of Southern California in the United States. By targeting recent graduates from these respected programs, Nova aims to capture fresh talent at a pivotal moment in their careers, when they are most eager to translate academic projects into commercial or artistic products.
Both Cerny and Keighley are personally financing the foundation with multi‑million‑dollar contributions, and they have indicated that they intend to continue investing as the organization expands. Keighley explained to Game File that Nova is a purely philanthropic venture: "We aren't taking equity or looking to recoup the grants. The return we're hoping for is creative – helping new voices make games and find their footing." This philosophy underscores the founders’ belief that the greatest reward is the cultural and artistic impact of the games themselves, rather than any financial payoff. To run the day‑to‑day operations, the foundation has appointed John Maconga as executive director and hired Ashley Corrigan—formerly the director of the Game Developers Conference—as head of grants.
Their combined experience in event production, community building, and grant administration is expected to streamline the selection process and ensure that funds are allocated efficiently. In addition, Josef Fares, the acclaimed director behind It Takes Two and Split Fiction, has pledged a personal donation and pledged ongoing support for the program. Fares expressed his enthusiasm, stating, "I'm proud to support Nova because it gives the next generation of creators the freedom to explore their creativity and hopefully bring their unique visions to life." Cerny has emphasized that the foundation’s ultimate goal is to treat games as an artistic medium deserving of the same kind of patronage historically reserved for music, visual art, or literature. He cited a handful of recent indie titles—such as Neva, Abzu, Gorogoa, Stray, and Outer Wilds—as exemplars of the type of innovative, emotionally resonant experiences Nova hopes to nurture.
These games have demonstrated that modest budgets, when paired with strong artistic direction, can produce works that captivate both critics and players worldwide. Keighley’s inspiration for the fellowship model stems from several personal experiences.
He once applied unsuccessfully for a Rhodes Scholarship, an episode that sparked his interest in how elite funding can transform a career trajectory. He also pointed to the MacArthur Foundation’s "genius grants" as a benchmark for supporting individuals based on potential rather than past achievements. Finally, he mentioned Jenova Chen—the USC graduate who created the poetic titles Flower and Journey—as a concrete example of a designer whose early work benefited from generous backing and who went on to shape the broader perception of video games as an expressive art form.
In summary, the Nova Games Foundation represents a concerted effort by two of the industry’s most influential figures to create a sustainable pipeline of talent. By offering substantial financial awards, mentorship from seasoned professionals, and the freedom to retain ownership of their creations, the program seeks to lower the barriers that often prevent innovative ideas from reaching the market.
As applications open later this year, aspiring designers from the affiliated universities will have a unique opportunity to secure the resources they need to bring their visions to life, potentially adding the next wave of groundbreaking games to the medium’s ever‑expanding canon.