Virtual Jam Challenges Developers to Level Up Using the Power of IP
GENEVA – September 25, 2025 – What does it take to build a game that could become the industry’s next big franchise? The Next Great IP Jam is challenging game developers to find out by creating franchise-worthy concepts with the potential to become legendary intellectual property (IP).
Running from October 9 to 27, 2025, the virtual jam is a collaboration between the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Global Game Jam (GGJ). The initiative will engage young game developers between the ages of 15 and 35 in not only making a game but also understanding the role and relevance of IP throughout the creative and business process.
Jammers will design games with franchise potential, focusing on characters, branding, and merchandising. The jam simulates the IP commercialization chain and highlights the importance of protecting original content from the outset. Through tailored knowledge sessions led by experts from around the world, participants will learn how copyright, trademarks, patents and design rights can protect and strengthen their creations, ensuring that the ideas they develop during the jam are truly IP-ready and capable of growing into sustainable franchises.
“Video games bring together technology, culture, and creativity to tell exciting new stories, and that makes them a treasure trove of intellectual property,” said Todd Reves, who heads the area that oversees WIPO’s IP and Youth Empowerment Strategy (IP-YES!). “From the code, game play and characters, to the storytelling, music, branding and merchandising, every part of a game can be protected and strengthened by IP such as copyright, trademarks, trade secrets, designs, and even patents.”
“Too often, game developers don’t realize the importance of IP until it’s too late,” Global Game Jam executive director Maria Burns Ortiz said. “Next Great IP Jam will showdevelopers why this is something you should be thinking about as soon as you start brainstorming, and we’ll make it fun.”
Through this initiative, WIPO seeks to show young developers how IP can transform an idea into a lasting franchise with global reach. This collaboration with GGJ is part of WIPO’s IP-YES! initiative, which seeks to spark passion about IP among young creators, innovators and entrepreneurs, help them build skills to leverage the tools and services available to them, and empower them to protect, and scale their creative and innovative ventures.
The best games from each region will be announced the week of November 17, 2025. Winners will receive mentorship from industry leaders and a range of exclusive opportunities to showcase their work, develop their skills and build their networks.
For more or to sign up, visit: www.globalgamejam.org/wipo
About WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a specialized United Nations agency that serves the world’s innovators and creators, ensuring that their ideas enter safely to the market and improve lives everywhere.
We do so by providing servicesthat enable creators, innovators and entrepreneurs to protect and promote their intellectual property (IP) across borders and acting as a forum for addressing cutting-edge IP issues. OurIP data and informationguide decision makers the world over, and our impact-driven projects andtechnical assistanceensure IP benefits everyone, everywhere.
About Global Game Jam
The Global Game Jam inspires game creators to experiment, innovate, and collaborate. Each year, GGJ organizes the world’s largest game jam, bringing together tens of thousands of participants across hundreds of sites worldwide. Founded in 2008, GGJ will celebrate its 17th edition from Jan. 26 – Feb. 1, 2026, with over 500,000 lifetime participants. GGJ also runs the world’s largest youth game jam, GGJ Next, and works to support and grow game development ecosystems around the world year-round.