Thanks to @mobilesyrup.com and @bradshankar.bsky.social for covering the Alberta & Beyond 2026 regional sale and showcase! You can see a ton of locally made Alberta games and some visiting us from out of town to display their games at the Game Discovery Exhibition!

Brad Shankar@bradshankar.bsky.social · 2w ago

@iaalberta.bsky.social has a cool Steam sale promoting a bunch of games made in Alberta. Great way to spotlight some of the local developer talent!

The Alberta & Beyond 2026 Steam Sale is in full swing! Make sure to stop by and check out some locally made Alberta games as well as some visiting GDX from out of town! store.steampowered.com/curator/4596... (this year's incredible art is by @applepiesleth.bsky.social!)

Alberta & Beyond Sale 2026

We’re back with an updated selection of standout indie titles from Alberta and games featured during the Game Discovery Exhibition (GDX) 2026 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada!

store.steampowered.com

Wow! What a heck of a first day at #GDX2026. We were nervous to share our pre-alpha build but it’s been a blast getting feedback directly from the public!

it is not possible to overexpose your game!! a new gamer is born every day!!

Timeline cleanse: You're watching Mei & Kira, two sea otters (Enhydra lutris) at the Toba Aquarium in Japan, help clean the pool area after playtime. The reward is an ice treat. Enrichment activities like this promote mental wellness. Let's talk about the SUCCESS of sea otter conservation.

On June 10 the arts community showed up to express to council that we were not pleased with the Edmonton Advantage plan and how arts and culture were considered a "nice to have" versus being integral to the plan. Hear from interactive artists and the arts community here youtu.be/bi1Pzz22qzs?...

June 10, 2026 - Executive Committee

YouTube video by Council Chamber - City of Edmonton

youtu.be

Just a reminder of this article today thewalrus.ca/ubisoft-cana... 980 million in taxpayer dollars in five and a half years seems like a lot for a company that keeps closing their Canadian studios 🤷‍♀️

Ubisoft Took the Subsidies. Workers in Quebec and Halifax Took the Fall | The Walrus

The video game titan has received as much as $2 billion in incentives. Maybe we should change where we put our money

thewalrus.ca

Within you there are two otters. Both are fucked up by fbx import settings scale factor 2.

Going to be speaking regarding a review of the economic development organizations tomorrow. I’m excited to head downtown to discuss such important investment into Edmonton.

Edmonton-based indie devs! Come learn how to design your booth experience and put your best foot forward as we get into exhibition season! You'll leave with ​● Draft booth plan ​● Visitor experience narrative ​● Feedback on a physical mockup of your booth RSVP now: luma.com/nosupsne

Designing Booth Experiences w/ IxDF Edmonton · Luma

Getting ready to exhibit your game? Interested in gathering feedback from real players? Make your booth work harder for you by thinking like a designer! Join…

luma.com

Asian Heritage Month has been incredible to witness this year. Huge love to Chung Ta Cung Nhau, FascinAsian Edmonton, and FascinAsian Calgary for the impact they’ve made across Alberta and beyond. We as a community can continue supporting Asian artists, creators, and developers year-round.

It’s the anniversary of @sunsetvisitor.studio’s game! If you haven’t checked it out yet, you need to fix that ASAP. Also they are 100% the nicest people in the business and sent me these lovely flowers this week 😭😭

There is no silver bullet to fixing the games industry across Canada--including tax credits. Looking at solutions that work best for small, medium, and large scale multinational studios is key to solidifying our long term success as an ecosystem.

The Walrus@thewalrus.ca · 3mo ago

Canadian taxpayers have poured $980 million into Ubisoft since 2020, helping build a global gaming giant. As governments double down on subsidies and AI, the company’s Halifax shutdown exposes a policy gap. Journalist Isaac Peltz explores: https://thewalrus.ca/ubisoft-canada-tax-breaks-layoffs/

So many options with what we could do with this money, including keeping tax credits to a certain degree, but also putting that back into building local small and medium studios!

Michael Iantorno♨️🕹️@michaeliantorno.com · 3mo ago

I'll add to this that game developers have *lots* of ideas about how subsidies could be reallocated. For example, why not give some to local worker co-operative studios that have formal mandates to create sustainable employment?

Indie game devs - you need a producer. If you want your game to put coordinated and for the people in your team to be communicating well, that's a producer's job to facilitate! #gamedev #indiedev

Come play the very very alpha Otter Half: Your Hand in Mine or else this otter will be sad.

Interactive Arts Alberta@iaalberta.bsky.social · 3mo ago

​👾 Play, learn & connect at Game Night! 📆 Friday, May 15, 5:00pm-9:00pm MST 🔗 RSVP: luma.com/pn3qnp0d Part of the 2026 UX in Play event series, IxDF Edmonton & IAA are hosting a drop-in Game Night, plus a live first playtest with @cozycometgames.bsky.social in the office next door!

If you're interested in learning more, we just sent out our newsletter and you can read it here: iaalberta.beehiiv.com/p/spring-ahe....

Spring Ahead | GDX Patch Notes (v.26.04.28)

GDX @ KDays Updates and GDX 2026 Information

iaalberta.beehiiv.com

Free? Indie? Booth?! YES! GDX will be moving forward with GDX @ KDays and we need you to immediately fill out your interest if you are looking for a free indie booth this July. You can fill in the form here to express your interest: forms.gle/nsQXif7ykopN...

GDX 2026 Exhibitor Application Form

Thank you for your interest in exhibiting at GDX 2026! The Game Discovery Exhibition (GDX) is North America's largest indie games festival; it celebrates games culture and game development from aroun...

forms.gle

Perfect example of why relationships with other indies matter so much. Also great to read more about this from this perspective and yet another example the CMF is not the only thing that make this industry viable in Canada. BC tax credits are not the reason for this success either. It's the indies!

Jason Schreier@jasonschreier.bsky.social · 4mo ago

During a brutal time for funding in the video-game industry, the developer of the acclaimed 1000xResist found money from an unexpected source: the developer of Slay the Princess. This week's column goes inside the team-up between two beloved narrative games: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

LOOK AT THIS AMAZING STUFF. Congrats to the whole team on hitting 40K in one day. @sunsetvisitor.studio is just so rad.

Natalie (LADS pilled)@heartimecia.bsky.social · 4mo ago

40,000+ wishlists in one day… we are so tired but so elated!! thank you for letting us continue to do this kind of work. what an honor and a privilege to do that with this incredible team, in this tumultuous industry, for all of you who love story-driven games.

But what if... otters on the moon?

Here is a picture of a baby otter for no good reason.

@blakedesjarlais.bsky.social so looking forward to having you in @andrewknack.bsky.social's office! Congratulations on the new role.

New @cmf-fmc.bsky.social program dates and some program changes announced today! Make sure to refer to cmf-fmc.ca to see if there are any that impact you or your studio!

Home | Canada Media Fund

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) fosters, develops, finances and promotes the production of Canadian content and applications for all audiovisual media platforms.

cmf-fmc.ca

Today and every day, we honour trans people for their courage, their joy, and their impact on the world. You deserve to be seen, supported, and celebrated as you are. If you are located in AB like us, you can use your voice to advocate and write your MLAs about supporting the trans community.

a poster that says " celebrate transgender day of visibility " on it

ALT: a poster that says " celebrate transgender day of visibility " on it

media.tenor.com

Trans people deserve to be seen, supported, and celebrated, especially for their countless contributions to the games industry. Build better spaces. Hire them. Fund them. Play their games. At IAA, we are proud to run programs/events that support marginalized communities and will continue to do so.

a poster that says trans rights are human rights with a person holding two flags

ALT: a poster that says trans rights are human rights with a person holding two flags

media.tenor.com

Happy to see @onlybymidnight.bsky.social and @buffalobuffalo.bsky.social, two studios who showed their games at GDX, nominated for best indie game. Only wish their games were also acknowledged in the other major categories and not just relegated to purely indie!

Brad Shankar@bradshankar.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The 2026 Canadian Game Awards nominees have been revealed. 🇨🇦 🎮 The GOTY nominees are: -Assassin’s Creed Shadows -Hell is Us -Lost Records: Bloom & Rage -South of Midnight -Wanderstop Other noms include Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Battlefield 6 & Ambrosia Sky. The full list on @mobilesyrup.com:

Definitely sign up, we'll be covering more than just GDX! If you're an Alberta Indie, it's important to be part of the conversation!

Interactive Arts Alberta@iaalberta.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We are hosting an online Indie Town Hall. This will be a conversation on the future of GDX. There will be many pieces of the event that we address as well as the ecosystem as a whole. Come ready to be honest, constructive, and future-focused. RSVP here: luma.com/svvnte6i

Saw a post for making a Lord of the Rings themed nursery and figured hey I'll look at this. The fucking mobile is 400 fucking dollars. Can people who were IN the movie even afford that? That hurts my brain.

The question I have is how do we call in that behaviour when it happens in our communities? What if the people don't even realize they are the ones causing the damage? Some folks can justify anything, even harassment or inciting violence against others, if it suits their specific narrative.

Amy-Leigh Shaw@diveamydive.bsky.social · 5mo ago

So many people online will never know what it is to spend years having at least one person taking the worst faith interpretation of everything you say & trying to incite the ruination of your life with it. I think everybody would benefit from considering & finding some empathy for that experience.