Kristal Piksel Is Being Rebuilt. Here Is the Plan.
Setimedia's Oyungezer team spent four days at Gamescom 2024 in Cologne. Hands-on with Indiana Jones, Avowed, Little Nightmares 3, Replaced, and the Turkish indie stand.
3 min read
Twelve years in, Kristal Piksel has done its core job well. It has recognised good Turkish games, given developers a stage, and kept the conversation about local game development visible. But an awards programme that only speaks to the industry is leaving value on the table. That is what Setimedia is changing.
This post is a working document, not a press release. The plan is being shared openly so industry stakeholders can respond to it, push back on it, and contribute to shaping it. The full vision won't land in one edition. What the next Kristal Piksel will do is make a visible step in the right direction.
The structural change is straightforward. A second track is being added alongside the main competition: the Kristal Piksel Selection. Nominees are games that met all criteria and won in their categories. Selection games are titles that didn't qualify for competition reasons, wrong release window, still in alpha, doesn't fit a category cleanly, but have distinctive qualities worth spotlighting. Selection games don't compete for awards. They do get included in all the promotional support the programme offers.
That promotional support is getting a serious upgrade. Small cash prizes are being replaced with something more useful: a minimum of 5,000 euros worth of communications support per nominated and Selection game. That means paid editorial coverage in Turkiye's top five gaming outlets, international PR support including press kits and review code distribution, and full inclusion in the Games from Turkiye programme with year-round promotion and access to publisher and investor networking. Setimedia and WE'24 Agency are backing this.
The ceremony format is changing too. Shorter, faster, built for broadcast. One hour, hosted by streamers with real audiences, live on Twitch and YouTube. Speeches reserved for winners and Selection participants only. Academic events and side programming move to separate days, streamed where possible. The venue choice will be driven by production quality. The long-term direction is something closer to a proper show.
Kristal Piksel will also become the foundation of the Games from Turkiye programme, which represents Turkish game developers internationally. The two are linked now. What Kristal Piksel selects, Games from Turkiye amplifies.
Feedback goes to gft@setimedia.com. The Games from Turkiye newsletter is at gamesfromturkiye.substack.com. We are listening.
