Fifteen days until deadline for best game startup contest

Step right up. It’s time to apply.

Back for its fifth year, the Who’s Got Game Innovation Showdown will spotlight ten companies — from young startups to more established players — with the freshest ideas and most disruptive technologies in gaming.

This is your opportunity to showcase your product/service in front of 500 plus industry execs, investors, and press.

7 Finalists will have four minutes to present live at GamesBeat 2013. Our team of judges — made up of gaming industry experts & venture capitalists — will provide feedback on the products/services presented and determine a winner based on the following criteria:

» Freshness
» Innovation
» Potential for business success

The winner will be announced onstage and will receive VentureBeat/GamesBeat coverage, introductions to investors and/or relevant potential experts in our network, and other prizes yet to be announced.

The application deadline is October 4th, 2013 at 5pm PST.

Additional guidelines/rules:

– We suggest you submit a short video telling us more about your company or product with your application. This should not be an elaborate production. We are just looking for a no frills video of the entrepreneur or executive talking clearly about the idea.

– A person from your company (ideally the person in the video) must be available to pitch live at GamesBeat 2013.

– We do not allow powerpoints. Instead you can do a live demo, video, or other creative ways of presenting your technology.

– We’ll accept products that haven’t even been launched yet, and in fact we encourage this, and prioritize this.

To submit your product/service, fill out the application here. Email gamesbeat@venturebeat.com with any questions.

Press can apply for press passes here.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.