International Game Developers Association

International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is the professional association for over 12,000video and computer game developers worldwide. It is incorporated in the United States as a non-profit organization. Its stated mission is "To advance the careers and enhance the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community."

In recognition of the wide-ranging, multidisciplinary nature of interactive entertainment, there are supposedly no barriers to entry.

History

"When I joined the CGDC board in 1991 ... all of the other members at the time were developers with several years' experience who were used to this... However, none of that really mattered until the Congressional investigations that started up after Mortal Kombat came out. At that point it became clear to me that the game development community needed a voice."

The IGDA was founded in 1994 by Ernest W. Adams and was initially known as the Computer Game Developers Association (CGDA). Modeled after the Association for Computing Machinery, Adams envisioned the organization to support the careers and interests of individual developers, as opposed to being a trade organization, or an advocacy group for companies.