Mark Cerny, PlayStation’s lead systems architect, said he is “nearing the end” of his career and wants to “give back” to the industry by supporting future generations of game creators.
Together with The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley, he founded The Nova Games Foundation, which will issue grants to aspiring developers.
In an interview Game File Cerny and Kaylee said the scheme would pay $100,000 to each of 20 young game designers annually. The most promising projects will be able to receive additional funding of up to $500 thousand.
Nova will also handle connections between developers and publishers, and will also help with game marketing. At the same time, the fund will not benefit financially from its investments, and grant recipients will retain complete freedom in choosing a publisher and platforms for release.
Applications will begin in December for the 2026-2027 intake. The program included 13 educational institutions from eight countries, including New York University, the University of Southern California, Scotland’s Abertay University, France’s Cnam-Enjmin, Germany’s TH Köln and Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Geoff Kiely said:
I’ve always wanted to give back, but given my role in the industry, I never felt it was appropriate to invest commercially in games. I have never owned stock in a game company or taken a financial stake in a game. Nova is a charity: we do not take shares and do not expect to return grants. The payoff we’re hoping for is creative: helping new voices make games and find their footing.
Mark and I made multimillion-dollar donations to start the foundation and intend to continue to support it. We hope others will join us.
One of the first developers brought on board was Youssef Fares, lead designer at Hazelight Studios and creator of co-op hits It Takes Two and Split Fiction.
Youssef Fares added:
I’m proud to support Nova as the foundation gives the next generation of creators the freedom to explore their own imaginations and hopefully bring unique ideas to life.
Cerny and Kaylee are looking for other well-known industry figures to participate in the project. According to Kayley, “dozens of leading game directors” have already expressed interest.
Cerny himself expects the fund to grow “over the next 10 or 20 years.”
Mark Cherny:
The industry has changed immeasurably since I started working in games in 1982. These graduates have talent, training and tools that are amazingly superior to what we had then. But they have a tough road ahead of them to gain a foothold in the industry, and many could use our support. We want to be there to provide it.
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Cerny was responsible for the architecture of the PS4, PS5 and PS5 Pro, and his development career began at Atari, where he worked on Marble Madness. He later participated in the creation of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, and also acted as game director for Astro Bot.
