Square Enix has officially opened a new website for a large-scale game development competition aimed at creators and developers based in Japan.
The contest is focused on discovering original unreleased game projects, with judging criteria centered around:
creativity
innovation
gameplay quality
entertainment value
and overall project potential
According to Square Enix, the program is designed as an opportunity for creators to bring their game ideas to life while potentially receiving full publishing support from the company itself.
The competition will feature three major award categories.
The top prize, the Grand Prize, will be awarded to one winner who will receive:
300 million yen in prize money
full publishing support
distribution assistance
marketing support
and sales royalties
In addition, four projects will receive the Best Works Award, with each winner earning 100 million yen.
Meanwhile, ten projects will receive the Excellence Award, each with a prize of 30 million yen.
Square Enix also confirmed that every category is guaranteed to have winners, meaning no award tier will be left vacant.
The competition is open to:
individuals
development teams
and legal entities residing in Japan
Submitted games must be original projects that have never previously won another competition. However, projects that were shown on social media or online portfolios are still eligible as long as they have never been commercially released.
The contest only accepts games for:
PC
and mobile platforms
VR projects are not included among accepted categories.
Registration for the competition will run from December 15, 2026 until March 15, 2027, while winners are scheduled to be announced on June 30, 2027.
For the submission process, participants must provide:
a PDF project proposal
an unlisted YouTube gameplay video limited to 20 minutes
and a playable executable build packaged in ZIP format
The judging process will take place across three stages:
proposal and video evaluation
direct gameplay testing of submitted builds
and final interviews with selected candidates
Interestingly, Square Enix also clarified that the use of AI tools is permitted during development, as long as participants disclose which tools were used and hold proper rights to all generated assets.
However, the company noted that if a winning project eventually enters commercial release, AI-generated content may need to be manually revised depending on internal company policies and publishing requirements.
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