The International Game Developers’ Association Foundation just announced the return of its annual charity-driven Steam event, after two consecutive years. This time around, organizers are highlighting co-op and multiplayer games.
IGDA announced earlier today that ‘Download for Charity 2027: Press ‘Start’ Together’, a Steam fundraising campaign, would launch in late May of next year. The campaign will spotlight games built around collaborative play and donate a portion of the proceeds to uplift underrepresented developers. Back for a third consecutive year, the event partners participating studios with content creators who aid with promoting the sale via livestreams, videos, and social media posts.
A percentage of Steam sales are funneled toward Foundation programs like scholarships, international exchanges, and mentorship pairings. Organizers shared that next year’s event’s more targeted focus on multiplayer and co-op games was selected to give the event a more cohesive identity for developers, players, and Steam alike. According to a press statement from the Foundation, next year’s theme is intended to center on the friendships and communities that multiplayer games create, a shift toward a more specific, single-genre focus.
The 2026 Steam event drew 2.85 million Steam impressions and 56,000 sale-page visits across 106 featured games. This year’s charity event drew more than double 2025’s turnout of roughly 1.08 million impressions and 24 games.
As for the mechanics of next year’s event event, selected games will appear on a dedicated event page on Steam throughout the period of the sale, with participating studios donating part of their proceeds to the IGDA Foundation.
One participating publisher’s experience ill: across three games during last year’s one-week DLC window, actual sales reached $199,000 against a forecast of $81,000, with $19,000 routed to the Foundation.
“After the support we received for our first two Download for Charity events, we’re excited to build this into an annual opportunity for developers and players to give back,” said Alyssa Walles, Executive Director of the IGDA Foundation.
Past participants in the charity event have reported very positive results: “Working with the IGDA Foundation on this year’s DLC Sale Event was a genuine pleasure! We participated with three titles, and all three performed above forecast, with some even beating past performances in similar themed sale events,” said Danh Huyn, Sales and Promotions Manager for Balor Games. “A clear win for us commercially, with the added reward of directing a portion of proceeds to the IGDA Foundation in support of their mission.”
Proceeds from ‘Download for Charity’ go toward IGDA Foundation programs, including mentorships, scholarships, and travel grants to help support up and coming developers from marginalized communities. For developers interested in participating, the deadline to submit games is December 17. Content creators can also contribute to the campaign, by applying to take part in videos and livestreams.
The IGDA Foundation, founded in 2006, is the philanthropic, non-profit arm of the International Game Developers’ Association. Since its founding, the Foundation has supported more than 1,000 alumni who now work in different posts across the gaming industry.