The Mobile Game

In development. We have begun the first stages developing an online mobile game that takes the culture, principles and possibilities of participatory democracy and gamifies this with role play. In February 2025 we held our first game dev jam, which saw a dozen leading mobile game developers, including people connected to Candy Crush and Monument Valley, coming together in a south London studio. They recieved a presentation from two experts on sortition and citizens' assemblies, including one of the founders of the Global Citizens' Assembly of 2021 and a senior member of UK democracy think tank Demos, followed by a long Q and A. The developers then worked in groups, pairs and as individuals, 'jamming' possible game ideas over a period of five hours. At the end of the day, they came together for a show and tell which instantly shocked the 'experts' as to what is actually possible. 

This was a test run for a larger game dev jam slated for April where there is a much bigger group coming together (expecting over 50 well known game developers). This will be followed by a period of two months while developers create their ideas for a fun, exciting and compelling game. These ideas will be presented in June and the winner will then go on to develop the game until it is market ready. The release date is expected to be January 2026. The initial stages of this project was supported by a dozen deliberative democracy experts from around the world coming together to share their thoughts about what is possible. Already, the first ideas from the first game dev jam, have been "way beyond our expectations". The mobile game market reaches around three billion of the global human population, a number growing particulalry in South East Asia. OWON believe this can be an outstanding way for building a much greater demand for these new models to be supported. The game will direct traffic to the OWON movement.