Asi Burak gets political in his Games for Change award speech | The DeanBeat

Politics is always a difficult area for game industry leaders to navigate. It is fraught with so many no-win risks that most leaders don’t even try to talk about it now.

That’s why Asi Burak, outgoing chairman of Games for Change, caught my attention last week with the speech he made as he was inducted into the G4C Hall of Change in New York last week. He was grateful for serving with the organization for two decades, and he was also unashamedly political.

Burak received the honor from the nonprofit because of his dedication to advancing impact games, from his pioneering work on the PeaceMaker game to his leadership in transforming G4C into an internationally recognized movement.

Asi Burak has left an enduring legacy at Games for Change through his nearly decade-long tenure as board chair and his previous five years as president. He retired from his chair role as Leo Olebe took over that role this year.

During his time as president, Asi led groundbreaking initiatives, including the award-winning Half the Sky Movement Games, inspired by the NYT bestselling book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. This initiative featured a Facebook game and three mobile games, alongside a PBS documentary and other multimedia assets, reached millions of players worldwide, raising both awareness and funding to advance women’s rights and gender equality.

As board chair, he steered the organization through a period of extraordinary growth. Under his leadership, Games for Change cemented its status as the leading platform in the games-for-impact space and more than doubled its annual budget.

The annual Games for Change Festival evolved into one of the industry’s influential events, with satellite convenings held around the world and now at the United Nations as well. Additionally, the organization’s educational programs around game creation flourished, impacting over 50,000 students, more than 1,500 educators, and thousands of developers globally.

I’ve had both public and private conversations with Burak over the years. His words are an inspiration.

Here’s his full speech, which he spoke at the Games for Change 2025 Festival in New York and posted on social media.

Asi Burak’s Hall of Change Speech

Thank you, Leo. I truly can’t think of a better team to lead this organization into the future than Leo as Chair and Susanna as President.

It’s an incredible honor to receive this Old Person award… err… the Hall of Change award. Games for Change has been the most meaningful project of my life. I had the privilege of being part of it from the very beginning—as a developer in the community, and later as President and Chair.

But in this brief moment, I don’t want to focus on my story—or even on the organization itself. I want to focus on you: The community.

I truly believe that this audience is one of the greatest assets of the games for impact movement. There is no other event in the world that brings together such a diverse and high-caliber group of people under one roof. Diverse in nationality, background, discipline—and united by a common purpose. Where else would you find, in the same row, a game designer, an artist, an engineer, a government official, a nonprofit leader, and a corporate executive?

What ties you all together is the belief that games—and the people who create them—can make the world a better place.

Not in theory. Not ironically. But truly and urgently.

We’re living now in what feels like a bizarro world. The Upside Down.

— A world where the richest person on Earth is waging war on systems meant to help the poorest.

— A world where the most powerful leader targets the defenseless—where the weaker you are, the more likely you are to be attacked.

— A world where platforms built to connect us are instead breeding division, toxicity, and hostility.

— And a world where the post-WWII era of peace and prosperity—the very system built to prevent future atrocities—is unraveling. What’s rising in its place, as David Brooks warns, is a kind of modern paganism: a culture obsessed with conquest, ego, dominance, and fame.

But if you’re here tonight, you likely see things differently. You’re here because the world is going in a dangerous direction. And that fact motivates you — not to despair, but to act. To create. To fix what’s broken. To help those who need it most. You believe, as I do, that this ship can be turned around—and that we have a role in steering it.

And here’s the most important thing to remember: You are NOT alone. Your work matters. Your voice matters. But you are also part of a collective. In this room are your future collaborators. The funders of your next project. The partners who will help test it in the real world.

This is our moment to shine —even as it gets darker outside.