Free and open to the public, Global Game Jam Curitiba, the Brazilian stage of the world game development marathon, will reach its 17th edition from Friday (Jan. 30) to Sunday (1).

The number of registrants has exceeded 500 participants, and organizers expect it to reach 600 people, the tournament’s annual average. Minors may participate as long as they are accompanied by a guardian.

The marathon takes place simultaneously in 100 countries, bringing together 30 thousand people spread across 800 venues around the world.

Brazil has 30 venues, including universities, companies, and smaller groups, Bruno Campagnolo de Paula, coordinator of the Digital Games course at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR), where Global Game Jam Curitiba takes place, told Agência Brasil.

The event in Paraná state, however, is the largest physical gathering in Brazil. It is also one of the most productive in the world – typically resulting in 70 to 100 new games per year. Bruno Campagnolo de Paula hopes that more than 80 new games will be created in the 2026 edition.

On Sunday (1), the projects will be finalized and the traditional play party will take place, when participants play the games that have been created. The public can also join in.

Theme of the year: “Mask”

This year, the theme that will guide the development of the games is “mask,” and participants will be able to give it different interpretations.

“People from the Middle East interpret it one way, people from Russia interpret it another way, and so on,” said Bruno Campagnolo, who pointed out that the richness of the event lies in the diversity of games to be created.

During the game development marathon, participants will be immersed for 48 hours, working in teams. Despite this and the fact that the organization will distribute trophies to the best-rated games, the professor clarified that this is not a competitive event.

“In fact, it is an event where participants develop games and gain international visibility for those games,” he remarked.

The games are developed for different platforms and formats, such as PCs, mobile devices, virtual reality, and analog games – including board games, game books, escape rooms, and RPGs.

Expansion

Campagnolo explained that, as the games will be published on the Global Game Jam website, they may be sold later to companies in Brazil and around the world.

“Without a doubt, the creative economy linked to games is one of the biggest areas we have today,” he said.

A large number of teams continue to work on their games after they are published, creating new versions for app stores and other digital platforms. Some teams discover each other during the Game Jam and decide to create a new game.

According to the survey Pesquisa Game Brasil, the gaming market is experiencing a period of rapid expansion in the country. From 2024 to 2025, digital game consumption grew 8.9 percent in Brazil – 82.8 percent of the population say they play digital games. This industry is as big as the movie industry today, Bruno Campagnolo de Paula argued.