An undercover investigation by Ghanaian journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas has won the top award at the world’s first investigative journalism game jam, proving that corruption exposés can work as interactive entertainment. The recognition came at the inaugural Floodlight Gaming Summit held in Amsterdam on September 24, where game developers competed to transform real investigations into playable experiences.
Berlin-based Greenwave Games took the $5,000 prize and a spot in SpielFabrique’s Launchpad Program for “Hunting the Hunter,” a game based on Anas’s investigation into cocoa smuggling networks along Ghana’s western border. The game puts players in the role of an investigative journalist uncovering a smuggling ring that sabotaged Ghana’s economy while depriving farmers and threatening national security.
It’s an unusual crossover. Investigative journalism typically exists in text-heavy reports and documentary formats that struggle to reach younger audiences. Gaming, meanwhile, often focuses on entertainment without tackling real-world accountability issues. Floodlight Gaming aimed to merge the two by giving developers exclusive access to investigations from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) network, then seeing what they’d create.
The results suggest the fusion works. Five finalists emerged from submissions worldwide, each adapting different investigations into interactive formats. Beyond “Hunting the Hunter,” finalists included games about European money laundering networks, El Salvador’s gang violence, Viktor Orban’s political rise in Hungary, and cocoa industry exploitation. What these games share is grounding in actual investigative work rather than fictional scenarios.
“We launched Floodlight Gaming to give game developers all over the world exclusive access to top-notch investigative journalism about global organized crime and corruption,” said Paul Radu, Co-Founder of Floodlight Gaming and OCCRP. “We want to generate a new wave of games that gives developers free reign to create in the public interest.”
For Anas, the award validates a belief that journalism must evolve beyond traditional formats to survive. “This recognition affirms that the fight against corruption can engage hearts and minds far beyond traditional journalism,” he said following the announcement. “Above all, I hope it challenges young people everywhere to believe that they too can use their creativity and courage to make a difference.”
The winning game’s developers, Bernard Lis and Chris Vogel, emphasized how direct access to the journalist enhanced their work. “I really enjoyed that we were able to ask our questions to the journalist,” Vogel said during the summit. “It made our game so much deeper than it would have been otherwise.” That collaboration between developers and reporters appears central to Floodlight’s model—ensuring games remain faithful to investigations while creating engaging gameplay.
The jury described “Hunting the Hunter” as an “impressive prototype for an open world-game that delivers a great overall experience and good visuals.” Open-world design lets players explore environments freely rather than following linear paths, potentially allowing deeper engagement with investigative narratives than passive consumption permits.
Whether gaming actually increases civic engagement or just entertains remains an open question. Games about social issues have existed for years with mixed impact on player behavior outside the game environment. Floodlight’s bet is that grounding games in real investigations rather than hypothetical scenarios might change that equation by connecting entertainment directly to accountability journalism people can verify independently.
Floodlight Gaming was established by OCCRP, the Gabo Foundation, and Anima Interactive, with support from V-Ventures, SpielFabrique, Global Game Jam, Good Game Generation, and the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). That coalition suggests serious institutional backing for what could be dismissed as an experimental side project.
Karla Reyes, Founder of Anima Interactive, framed the initiative within broader information challenges. “In an era of rampant misinformation, our roles as storytellers, developers, and journalists have never been more critical,” she said. “Video games are one of the most powerful mediums of our time for building empathy, bearing witness, and telling nuanced and complex truths that do not often dominate public discourse.”
That’s the ambitious claim—that games can build empathy for complex issues better than traditional reporting. Whether audiences actually absorb journalistic substance while playing or just enjoy gameplay mechanics without retaining investigative content will determine if this model scales beyond initial enthusiasm.
For Ghana specifically, the recognition highlights how local investigative work can achieve global reach through creative adaptation. Anas’s cocoa smuggling investigation exposed networks that cost Ghana’s economy significantly while enriching cross-border criminals. Transforming that investigation into a game potentially introduces those findings to audiences who’d never read a 5,000-word report or watch an hour-long documentary.
The broader context involves journalism’s struggle to monetize quality reporting while competing with entertainment for audience attention. If investigations can be adapted into commercially viable games that generate revenue while spreading accountability messages, that creates new sustainability models for investigative work. Whether game sales actually fund journalism remains unclear—press materials don’t detail revenue-sharing arrangements between developers and reporters.
Anas’s expanding international profile benefits from awards like this, but the real test is whether gaming adaptations actually strengthen accountability outcomes. Do games about corruption investigations lead to policy changes, prosecutions, or reformed systems? Or do they just create awareness without consequences? Those questions matter more than the novelty of the format.
The summit itself featured discussions between game developers and investigative journalists about storytelling crossover between industries. That conversation matters because the two fields typically operate in separate worlds with different incentives, timelines, and quality standards. Finding common ground requires understanding both entertainment value and journalistic integrity without compromising either.
Floodlight Gaming represents broader experimentation with how investigative journalism reaches audiences. The parent Floodlight project also connects investigations with film and television industries for adaptations. Gaming adds another distribution channel, potentially reaching demographics that streaming documentaries miss.
Whether “Hunting the Hunter” succeeds commercially after winning the jam will indicate if this model has legs beyond competition settings. The game is currently available as a prototype, but full development requires resources beyond what competition prizes provide. If it attracts investment and reaches mass audiences, other investigations might follow similar paths. If it remains a prototype that gaming enthusiasts praise but general audiences ignore, the journalism-gaming fusion stays niche.
For now, Anas has another international accolade demonstrating how his undercover investigations resonate beyond Ghana. Whether that resonance translates into strengthened accountability systems—the ultimate measure of investigative impact—depends on factors beyond awards ceremonies and gaming summits. But proving that serious investigations can work as engaging games removes one barrier to reaching audiences that traditional formats struggle to capture.
Source: newsghana.com.gh
