For the first time in its history, the Games and SDG Summit is leaving New York and landing on African soil and Nairobi is the destination. Organised by Games for Change in partnership with Games for Change Africa, the Pan Africa Gaming Group, and Playing for the Planet, the 2026 edition of this prestigious gathering will be hosted at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, with select local venues also forming part of the experience.

The event brings together over 150 senior leaders drawn from the games industry, technology, philanthropy, and the United Nations, and operates as an invitation-only convening. The format is deliberately designed to move beyond networking for its own sake, combining keynote addresses, panel discussions, workshops, and curated site visits that put real-world impact on display. Cultural performances celebrating Nairobi’s creative vitality are also woven into the programme, ensuring the host city’s identity is not just a backdrop but an active part of the experience.

On the substantive side, the agenda will feature UN programme briefings covering the most pressing global challenges of our time, with a particular thematic focus on the environment and economic mobility. Collaborating UN agencies include UN-Habitat, UNICEF, and the World Food Programme institutions whose mandates intersect in powerful ways with what games, interactive media, and emerging technologies can achieve when deployed with purpose.

What makes this edition especially relevant is a dedicated day focused entirely on the African game development ecosystem. This session will explore pathways to sustainable growth for African developers, creating space for the continent’s creators to engage directly with global industry leaders, UN representatives, and funders in a meaningful, structured way rather than as an afterthought.

An arcade showcase will also run alongside the summit’s main programming, featuring innovative games and immersive media projects that advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals giving developers working in this space a platform to demonstrate what purposeful game design looks like in practice.

The full speaker lineup and schedule are yet to be announced, but for anyone working in or watching the African games industry, the 2026 Games and SDG Summit in Nairobi is shaping up to be one of the most consequential gatherings the continent has hosted in this space. More information is available on the event website.