Cover Vincent Siu (left), founder and lead curator of Games for Change Hong Kong; Megan Tan, program lead of Games for Change Hong Kong.
Vincent Siu (left), founder and lead curator of Games for Change Hong Kong; Megan Tan, program lead of Games for Change Hong Kong.
1 / 1
The second annual Games for Change Hong Kong festival showcased how interactive media can support education and social impact.
Tackling real-world challenges in multiplayer mode, the second annual Games for Change Hong Kong (G4CHK) festival returned to the University of Hong Kong (HKU) on May 27. Hosted by founder and curator Vincent Siu under the theme "Gaming Momentum," the day-long gathering framed interactive media, from video games to board games, as a starting point for creativity and social impact across industries.
A Tatler Gen.T Leaders of Tomorrow honouree of 2020, Siu has aimed to reimagine education through hands-on play, ranging from card games to Legos. Jointly presented by HKU and Siu's game design studio Press Start Studios, the 2026 edition of G4CHK hosted participants from Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and the US. The festival’s panels and workshops spanned three thematic tracks—titled "Inspiring Across Sectors," "Pushing New Boundaries," and "Scaling the Games Ecosystem," designed to support Hong Kong's emerging game industry.
Read more: Can creativity be taught? Press Start Studios’ Vincent Siu certainly believes so
Above Vincent Siu, founder and lead curator of Games For Change Hong Kong.
Vincent Siu, founder and lead curator of Games For Change Hong Kong.
1 / 1
The festival's speaker and panel line-up spanned academia and industry voices. Academy Award-winning documentarian Ruby Yang, Director of the School of Future Media at the University of Hong Kong, delivered an opening address on the media's capacity to inspire change. Lindsay Grace, Knight Chair in Interactive Media at the University of Miami, gave a keynote that examined how games, alongside AI, can serve as a form of diplomacy, while Jeffrey T.K. Valino Koh of the Singapore Institute of Technology closed the day with a reflection on game design as an act of authorship. Separately, the panel "Headlines and Subcultures: Exploring the Intersection of Media, Entertainment, and Communities" featured Chia Yee Hui, a Tatler Gen.T Leaders of Tomorrow honouree of 2022, as a moderator.
Read more: How Press Start Studios’s Vince Siu went from playing games to building his own
Above Lindsay Grace, a Knight chair in interactive media and professor at the University of Miami School of Communication, delivering a keynote address at the Games for Change Hong Kong festival 2026.
Lindsay Grace, a Knight chair in interactive media and professor at the University of Miami School of Communication, delivering a keynote address at the Games for Change Hong Kong festival 2026.
1 / 1
Above Panelists at the Games for Change Hong Kong festival 2026. From left: Chia Yee Hui, founder of Bindu.inc; Razlan Manjaji, vice president, global events at the South China Morning Post; Sewon Chung, head of digital content and initiatives, curatorial at M+; Nathalie Tay, business director and editor-in-chief at The Magic Rain.
Panelists at the Games for Change Hong Kong festival 2026. From left: Chia Yee Hui, founder of Bindu.inc; Razlan Manjaji, vice president, global events at the South China Morning Post; Sewon Chung, head of digital content and initiatives, curatorial at M+; Nathalie Tay, business director and editor-in-chief at The Magic Rain.
1 / 1
Meanwhile, workshop activities put the ideas discussed into practice, including the game "Health Seekers," a board game led by Pauline Luk of HKU that helped participants play through the financial and social pressures of caregiving in Hong Kong, and "Paper and Barcodes," an interactive workshop led by Clement Zheng of the National University of Singapore, who showcased a unique application of barcodes and QR codes as game interfaces through their recent project with Red Cross Singapore.
As Asia's first local chapter of the global Games for Change movement, G4CHK also taps into Hong Kong's bottom-up culture of NGOs, social enterprises and independent creators. This ecosystem was represented by the Hong Kong Game Developers Alliance (GameDEVA HK) and its chairperson, Jeremy Lam, a Tatler Gen.T Leaders of Tomorrow honouree of 2023 and co-founder of Pixio Ltd., a leading mobile games studio based in Hong Kong. This track featured programming to inspire the growing Hong Kong local ecosystem of independent and student game developers, alongside a spotlight on the Malaysian games industry, represented by one of its largest game studios, Passion Republic.
Read more: From social issues to disease prevention, games are being used to educate and raise awareness
Above Workshop participants for the "Health Seekers" game at the Games for Change Hong Kong festival 2026.
Workshop participants for the "Health Seekers" game at the Games for Change Hong Kong festival 2026.
1 / 1
Above Attendees of the Games for Change Hong Kong festival 2026 tune in at the University of Hong Kong's Meng Wah Complex.
Attendees of the Games for Change Hong Kong festival 2026 tune in at the University of Hong Kong's Meng Wah Complex.
1 / 1
For the first time, this year's G4CHK anchored a broader programme outside of Hong Kong. Other events spanned a gathering at one of Asia's largest private game museums, a pitch clinic with publisher Kepler Interactive, an invite-only industry excursion to Tencent Games in Shenzhen, and the Future of Play Forum at the 2026 Beyond Expo in Macau—part of an effort to position Hong Kong as a regional hub for the games and creative industries. With community events and game jams planned across the region for the year ahead, the chapter's work is set to level up beyond the festival.
READ NOW
Game entrepreneur Vince Siu on gamifying education, business pivots and being a solo founder
This entrepreneur is making annual reports less boring
Why brands are now letting you spend loyalty points on Roblox instead of flights
Cat Wang is an editor at Tatler Asia based in Hong Kong, where she covers business, wealth, innovation, and impact. Previously, she was a Forbes Asia reporter and assistant editor of the Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list, spotlighting startups and small companies on the rise across the Asia-Pacific. She began her career as a trainee reporter at the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s newspaper of record. Born in New York City, she graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a B.A. in political science.
