The Queer Games Bundle has returned to itch.io for its third year running, with 288 queer game developers contributing to this year’s offerings. Everyone who supports the bundle will gain access to 456 video games, tabletop games, zines, albums, and artworks by creators from around the world.
Each piece explores the queer experience, from countless perspectives, identities, and circumstances.
As noted by the team behind the bundle, prominent creators included in this year’s pack are Eniko Fox of Kitsune Games (Kitsune Tails), Hanako Games (Magical Diary), MidBoss (2064: Read Only Memories), Robert Yang (The Tearoom), and Rocket Adrift (Raptor Boyfriend).
Notably, Australian adventure Queer Man Peering Into a Rock Pool.jpg, which recently picked up an Australian Game Developer Award (AGDA) for Excellence in Emerging Games, is also included as part of the bundle, alongside developer Fuzzy Ghost’s earlier title, Pebble Witch.
Read: Fuzzy Ghost’s Janet DeMornay is an ode to the trauma of renting
The organisers behind the Queer Games Bundle for 2023 have curated this year’s collection as a celebration of Pride Month, but also as a means to support the contributing developer. The bundle aims to provide funds to each developer, in the hopes of helping them gain a liveable wage.
‘If we had the budget of an AAA game, we could give every solo developer in this bundle a liveable wage multiple times over for a year and every single team a massive funding boost,’ the itch.io description reads. ‘Imagine what the developers and artists in this bundle could create a year from now if they weren’t worried about starving or how to pay their rent this month.’
‘Purchasing the Queer Games Bundle is a direct action that you can take right now to support queer people in a life-changing way, and in exchange, you get over 450 amazing, heartfelt, fun, and radical games and artworks.’
The Queer Games Bundle 2023 costs US $60 for the complete pack of games, although there is a ‘pay what you can‘ version starting at US $10 for those in need. To date, the bundle has raised US $19,445.69 for its developers, and an additional US $3,177.05 via its pay what you can tier.
