Nine developers from Colombia to Malaysia, Ireland to Norway share the games, ideas and ambitions they brought to Gamescom 2026
Good Game Club Spotlights the Next Generation of Global Games Talent with the Xsolla Developer Scholarship Program
Nine developers from Colombia to Malaysia, Ireland to Norway share the games, ideas and ambitions they brought to Gamescom 2026
By Jude Ower
The second of two special episodes recorded at the Xsolla Clubhouse during Gamescom 2026 in Cologne showcases emerging games developers from around the world who travelled to Gamescom as part of the Xsolla Developer Scholarship Program.
In my conversation with Justin Berenbaum, SVP Global Industry Relations, Funding General Manager at Xsolla, he introduces the Scholarship Program and explains why access to the industry’s major international events can be transformational for developers who might otherwise be unable to attend. It gives them the experience, relationships and business skills that can open doors over the longer term. Xsolla brought 20 studios representing 13 countries to Gamescom, selecting them from more than 200 submissions. “Great games can come from anywhere,” he says.
With my co-host Mathias Gredal Nørvig, we introduce nine scholarship recipients who discuss their games and the experiences and cultures influencing them. The developers and games featured are:
Jorge Martinez (Colombia) - ‘Alumbra’ - a game about a child trapped in a nightmare, where light represents his courage as he learns to confront and overcome his fears.
Manus Burke (Ireland) - ‘Sub-Species’ - an underwater action-adventure in which players pilot a submarine and salvage resources to survive while fighting alien monsters.
Adriana Echeverria (Costa Rica) - ‘The Birdsong Tree’ - a nature-inspired game that asks players to slow down, observe the behaviour of birds and start noticing the wildlife and world around them.
Bryann Orion (Malaysia) - ‘Froggy Brews’ - a cosy game about a frog returning to a neighbourhood that has changed and reconnecting with people through a tea-loving community.
Adam Zeria (Israel) - ‘Tattered Banners’ - a strategy RPG set in a simulated fantasy world where cities rise and fall, noble houses go to war and bandits raid merchants for resources.
Guilherme Garna (Portugal) - ‘Beyond the Board’ - a story-driven discovery game of exploration and hidden pathways set inside a three-dimensional chess game.
Max Petroff (Canada) - ‘Croak’ - a two-dimensional, hand-drawn platform game in which players take control of Prince Frog, using his tongue as a grappling hook to navigate its world.
Spencer Beckford (United Kingdom) - ‘Rhythm Towers’ - a music strategy game combining rhythm action with tower defence mechanics, allowing players to build their defences while building the game’s soundtrack.
Martin LotheSaeterdal (Norway) - ‘Talystro’ - a roguelike card game designed to spread the joy of maths by turning mathematical principles into creative game mechanics and changing how players experience learning.
This interview with Justin Berenbaum – hosted by Jude Ower - has been edited and condensed from the original Good Game Club podcast for length and clarity.
Jude Ower: Today we're talking to Justin Berenbaum about the scholarship program that Xsolla is running, bringing studios from all over the world to Gamescom. Justin, tell us a little bit about your role at Xsolla and what you do.
I'm currently SVP of Global Industry Relations and Funding. I get to run around the world trying to help people find funding, understand game economies and how to build a sustainable business - and represent the industry. I get to be a global ambassador not just for Xsolla, but for the industry, especially to people outside the industry, governments and stuff that don't really understand, and try to educate them why digital economies are so important for the future. So, I've got a great gig.
You brought 20 game studios from Costa Rica, Malaysia, Israel, the UK, Ireland and elsewhere to Gamescom. Where did the idea for the Scholarship Program come from?
We'd always been looking for ways to do more and give back. We realised there was a real need that some of the best business opportunities happen at these events, but so many people can't afford to come to them, especially from emerging markets or underrepresented countries, that they have the chance to be the future.
And without that single opportunity to be at the right place at the right time, meet with the right person, that may never happen. And it's a little bit of the butterfly effect. So the idea was: how do we affect the future of the industry?
The first one we did was at GDC. We did 45 people to GDC last year, brought them in, and we realised how impactful that was. A couple of them got publishing deals. And so it's just like: how do we do this bigger, better, even if it was a smaller number? And then Gamescom came. It was 20 studios. I think we represented 13 different countries.
The Scholarship Program really represents the future of the industry; they’re the rising stars.
Our founder has been a big believer since I started almost nine years ago. He was a big believer that great games can come from anywhere. That's been one of my missions: how do we get more games made in more places? Obviously, selfishly for Xsolla, we can't make money if games don't get made. So, the more games that get made that might use Xsolla, the more – while we are doing this for good, there's also our corporation, right?
So how does the scholarship program work? How do you find the studios, how do you pick the ones that are going to be here?
It's really just: how do we create the most impact on a budget? My team came up with a specific set of criteria that we're looking for. For Gamescom, we only had a very short window. So, the criteria was a very narrow funnel at the top. We're just looking for good games. We try not to find studios that had been around too long, had already shipped a bunch of games, or had already had a publisher. It was really about creating new opportunities for new studios or studios that were there but hadn't quite been successful.
I think we got 215, 220 submissions, even with a very narrow criteria. The team went through those in less than two weeks, and it was a combination of gameplay, the pitch, the information they provided us. We also want studios that are going to represent well globally when they're talking to publishers, when they're talking to investors. We try not to be the arbiters of what’s next, but what will be taken seriously and has a chance.
I guess it’s looking for what’s different in terms of what you haven’t seen before?
Correct. We don't want to see another clone of X, Y, Z. The idea is: is it something we maybe haven't seen 500 times? It's so fun to get these games from countries that people didn't even know make games because they may have a take on a traditional genre that we haven't seen before.
What else do developers receive as part of the scholarship?
We brought them in. We paid for hotels. We paid for their tickets. Paid for Meet-To-Match, which is one of the conference platforms. We walked them through how to do that. We kind of gave them, I want to say business 101, but how to conduct yourself at a trade show.
I think the most important thing we also said is: don't expect to close a deal at the show.
Your mission is really to try to get somebody to want to continue a conversation, want to learn more, a reason to follow up. People go to school, they learn how to program, they learn how to do art, but people don't teach them about the business of games. And games aren't just about making games anymore. There’s so much more to making a game than making a game. Understanding your audience, community, product market fit, all of it. It's why I say I think games are the hardest creative medium in the world
What does success look like for the program, what are you looking at in terms of the future?
I think there's a short, medium and long. The short term is I just want these studios to get the experience, to understand the size and scope of the industry. I think it's really the experience. They take away the relationships, even with each other. The idea that sometimes their peers can teach them more than we can because they're going to find somebody that's doing something that they're not able to do, they're gonna make the connection. A lot of it is: how do I network with even people all over the world that I would never have met? Everything is so global now. It gives them an opportunity to then make a game that may be more appealing to the rest of the world.
Broadening horizons, I think, is the short-term goal there. Etiquette, how to conduct yourself at a business thing. And then I'd love for some of these studios to get deals. The ones out of GDC, not right away, but a couple months later, something like, “Hey, I got an investor.” A couple of them, “I got a job.” I think success is different and I don't want to define success for them. Mine is: do these people stay in the industry? It's really hard. It's hard to get funding. But sometimes the secrets of success are surviving long enough to get lucky.
There's a big difference between having a hobby and having a successful games business.
I think a lot of developers convince themselves that anybody can self-publish now. And, oh, maybe you don't need a publisher, you don't need an investor – and maybe you don't. But there's a huge difference between self-releasing, pushing a button, and actually self-publishing and understanding that publishing is as much of an art and craft as making a game.
Ultimately gameplay is the most important thing, but it's a four-sided pyramid. Gameplay is the base and two of the sides. The other sides that are just as important are the pitch and the video. Understanding that it's a whole package that's most likely going to get them signed is an important lever.
What would the next steps be for a developer to get involved?
Be on the lookout ... We will be doing another one at GDC and we're super excited, that one will be by far the biggest we have ever done. I'm guessing the announcement and calls for submissions will probably be sometime in November, and then we'll start accepting them in December. They can always reach out to our team, go to our website, look for it.
Thank you for doing this and thank you for coming on the show.
What you're doing - I think shining a light on all the great stuff the industry does is hugely valuable. So, thank you to you as well.
Watch or listen to the full conversation with Justin Berenbaum as part of the Xsolla Scholarship Program episode on the Good Game Club podcast here Good Game Club Podcast - YouTube.
