Make fun of Geoff Keighley all you want, what with his on-again-off-again relationship with Miss Piggy, but he does tend to have a finger on the pulse of the gaming community more than you’d expect. He was fighting for Mass Effect’s integrity on live television way back in 2008 and now, almost 20 years later, he’s teaming up with Mark Cerny to pave the future of the industry in creating the Nova Games Program, a grant for graduating students in the video game industry through 13 different video game schools around the world. Check out their official website to learn more.
Today, more than ever, we need to bet on human talent to create great games.
I’m proud to co-found Nova Games Foundation with @cerny, a new fellowship program for graduating students at 13 global video game schools.
Read more here from @stephentotilo: https://t.co/NoASu4A0Eb
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) September 8, 2026
As stated, the grant is global. It won’t just cover schools in the US, but in several countries including Scotland, France, Germany, and Australia. The grant offers $100,000 per recipient, and up to $500,000 for exceptional projects, though more importantly the grant gives the lucky students a direct connection to publishers and promotions, which is arguably invaluable.
Gaming is in a weird state of flux right now. It is simultaneously insanely profitable and incredibly volatile, with news of mass layoffs standing side-by-side with record breaking sales. Keighley and Cerny are wise to invest in some sort of stable future for the generation of developers and visionaries to come, and they invite other people of means from the gaming sphere to join them, such as Josef Fares (director of A Way Out and It Takes Two) who has already donated to the cause.
The full list of universities taking applications and the steps for applying to the Nova Games Program have yet to be announced but they should be soon, as December is the deadline for applications and the lucky grantees announced in March of 2027.