Renee Gittins is an American game developer and former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), succeeding Jennifer MacLean[1] and succeeded by Dr. Jakin Vela.[2] She also serves as Creative Director at her indie game studio, Stumbling Cat, which is developing the game Potions: A Curious Tale.[3]

Renee Gittins
Born1990 (age 33–34)
OccupationExecutive Director at IGDA

Biography

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Renee Gittins is the daughter of Carol Gittins and Olympian Boyd Gittins.[4] She received her degree in engineering from Harvey Mudd College in May 2012 and worked in biotechnology prior to joining the game industry.[3]

Prior to her appointment as executive director, Gittins served on the IGDA's executive board as secretary [5] and started her company, Stumbling Cat, in 2014.[3] As Executive Director, Gittins promised to focus on sustainable careers and inclusion within the game industry,[6] and has taken a strong stance against the significant overtime hours worked within the game industry.[7]

Gittins was named as part of the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2020 in Games.[8]

References

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  1. ^ "IGDA Groups Appoint a New Generation of Leaders Archived 18 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine." VentureBeat. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  2. ^ "IGDA Staff." Retrieved 9th March, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "How One Young Woman Became a Unicorn Indie Game Developer Archived 28 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine." VentureBeat. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  4. ^ Wainwright, Steve (July 30, 1995). "Tracking The Dream". The Seattle Times.
  5. ^ "IGDA Celebrates 25th Anniversary With Newly Appointed Board of Directors Archived 29 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine." Variety. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  6. ^ Farough, Amanda (July 11, 2019). "IGDA new executive director to focus on 'sustainable careers', inclusion for all developers". GameDaily.biz.
  7. ^ Brightman, James (December 3, 2019). "IGDA: 'A rested mind has an easier time performing creative and mentally challenging work'". GameDaily.biz.
  8. ^ "Bugha, SonicFox and Ewok highlight Forbes' 30 under 30 gaming list". ESPN. December 3, 2019.