Sponsors

Become a Sponsor!

If you are interested in sponsoring Meaningful Play, please email meaningfulplay.conf@gmail.com. Sponsorship provides an excellent way for you to raise awareness of your organization and connect with the Meaningful Play attendees and visitors of the website.

Premiere Sponsor

Jackson National Life Insurance Company

Jackson is a leading provider of retirement products for industry professionals and their clients. The company offers a diverse range of products including variable, fixed and fixed index annuities designed for tax-efficient accumulation and distribution of retirement income for retail customers, and fixed income products for institutional investors. Jackson subsidiaries and affiliates provide specialized asset management and retail brokerage services. With $230.4 billion in IFRS assets*, Jackson prides itself on product innovation, sound corporate risk management practices and strategic technology initiatives. Focused on thought leadership and education, the company develops proprietary research, industry insights and financial representative training on retirement planning and alternative investment strategies. Jackson is also dedicated to corporate social responsibility and supports charities focused on helping children and seniors in the communities where its employees live and work. For more information, visit www.jackson.com.

Platinum Sponsors

The Michigan Film & Digital Media Office

With a broader mission and an innovative approach to promoting film and digital media productions throughout the state, we are expanding our scope to support the creative industries in a more holistic way. Michigan is the preeminent place for filmmakers, digital media artists and producers along with being a home for the range of talent in the state's creative industries. The goal of the Film & Digital Media Office is to attract businesses that create content across all channels, including mobile, CGI, animation, digital gaming and social media. For over 30 years, we've been supporting the media industries here and positioning Michigan as a worldwide production destination, and we're looking forward to helping you, visit: www.MichiganFilmOffice.org.

Gold Sponsors

Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Division

Since 1928, the Wildlife Division has worked to enhance, restore, and conserve Michigan's wildlife and their habitats for the benefit of all Michiganders. The Wildlife Division supports recreation opportunities including birdwatching and hunting, the development of educational materials for formal and informal learning, and the inclusion of citizen stewards through citizen science efforts and stewardship volunteer opportunities. The Wildlife Division recognizes that nature is the original toy, which people connect with best while at play, and we seek partners who share our vision, visit: mi.gov/wildlife

Media and Information @ MSU

The Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University prepares students for positions of leadership and responsibility in a variety of media and communication fields including TV, cinema, radio, interactive media, games, web, media management, media research and the management of many other forms of information communication technology, visit mi.msu.edu

Media Sandbox

Media Sandbox is a creative curriculum and community in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University. In our Curriculum, you can study film, television, graphic design, web design, game design, visual storytelling, journalism, advertising, 3D and animation, documentary—and things nobody has thought of yet. In our Community, you can join fantastic student groups in every area we offer. You are invited to screenings and workshops by some of the top media artists in the world. You connect with artists, writers, musicians, scientists and creative thinkers from all across campus as well as with professionals in and around the region. You get to be a part of our student-faculty-alumni network, the fastest way to get experience and a job, visit mediasandbox.cas.msu.edu

GameDev @ MSU

The Game Design and Development Program at Michigan State University was founded back in 2005, and has grown leaps and bounds into a Top 10 Ranked program by the Princeton Review. Our program involves a mix of disciplines and backgrounds, comprised of Designers, Artists and Programmers, visit gamedev.msu.edu

Silver Sponsors

Pixo Group

Pixo Group is a full development studio for applications, games and interactive experiences. Our programmers, developers, UX designers and artists bring brands to life with rich apps and games for all mobile platforms, browsers, consoles and location based experiences as well as emerging immersive media such as Oculus Rift. PIXO's clients include GM, Ford, Coke, the US NAVY, Harman Kardon, Henry Ford Health Systems, National Geographic and many more, visit www.pixogroup.com

The Digital Innovation Institute

The Digital Innovation Institute is a high-tech laboratory space located within Lansing Community College’s (LCC) west campus. The Institute’s lab provides limitless opportunities to develop and deliver innovative and immersive training, customized simulations, and virtual reality environments. The primary philosophy of the Institute is to support innovation in teaching and learning. The impetus behind this is to shorten learning cycles, create risk-free environments for complex tasks, and ultimately enhance the development of education and workforce development training all while retaining the newly developed talent in the Midwest region, visit lcc-dii.org

MSU College of Communication Arts & Sciences

At the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University, we examine communication from different views and perspectives—from neurons to pop culture—making us vibrant and eclectic and always forward-thinking. We're one of the oldest, largest and most respected communication colleges in the world. With excellence in communication research and education, ComArtSci is ranked #1 in the nation for educating researchers in communication technology, and among the top four in mass communication. Our video game design and development program is ranked as one of the top in North America by the Princeton Review. Several of our programs are ranked in the top 10, and have stayed there for 60 years and counting. For more information, visit cas.msu.edu

MSU University Outreach and Engagement

The Office of University Outreach and Engagement (UOE) fosters MSU's land-grant mission by connecting university knowledge with community knowledge in mutually beneficial ways. UOE tackles priority issues of concern to society by encouraging, supporting, and collaborating with MSU faculty and community partners to generate, transmit, apply, and preserve knowledge. In all of its work, UOE emphasizes university-community partnerships that are collaborative, participatory, empowering, systemic, transformative, and anchored in scholarship, visit outreach.msu.edu

AT&T Lectureships in Information Technology Endowment

AT&T Inc. helps millions around the globe connect with leading entertainment, mobile, high-speed Internet and voice services. The AT&T Lectureships in Information Technology Endowment was established at MSU to help support innovative conferences and events such as Meaningful Play.

Bronze Sponsors

Deep Silver Volition

Volition was created in November 1996 after Parallax Software split into two companies (Volition and Outrage Entertainment). The studio is located in Champaign, Illinois, USA and is the creator of the Saints Row, Red Faction, FreeSpace and Summoner video game franchises and The Punisher game released in 2005. In addition to making games, Volition is active in the local community and support charitable causes and events around the globe, and are excited to support this year’s Meaningful Play Conference, visit www.dsvolition.com

GREE International Entertainment, Inc.

Based in San Francisco, GREE International Entertainment, Inc. (GIE) is the Western arm of GREE, Inc.: a leading global mobile social company with businesses that include social gaming, social media, advertising, licensing and merchandising, and venture capital. Established in December 2004, GREE, Inc. created the world's first mobile social game in 2007, and today is a global leader in free-to- play games,reaching audiences around the world with its portfolio of first-party and partner titles. GREE, Inc. has studios in Tokyo, San Francisco, Berlin and Melbourne and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TYO:3632), visit gree.net

Michigan State University Federal Credit Union

MSU Federal Credit Union, the world’s largest university-based credit union, offers a full range of personal — and business-related — financial services to Michigan State University and Oakland University faculty, staff, students, alumni association members, and their families worldwide in addition to a variety of select employee groups. Founded in 1937 by a few MSU professors and employees, MSUFCU has 17 branches, over 220,000 members, more than $3.25 billion in assets, and over 700 employees. In 2015, MSUFCU was named as one of the Nation’s Best and Brightest Companies to Work For and one of the Nation’s Best and Brightest in Wellness by the National Association for Business Resources, and was listed as the fifth top employer in the large-employer category in the 2015 Top Workplaces list by the Detroit Free Press. In 2016, MSUFCU was selected as one of West Michigan’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For, receiving the Michigan Business Professional Association’s top honor of Elite Overall – Best of the Best award, visit www.msufcu.org

MSU Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology

The Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology leverages MSU’s energy and inventiveness by connecting people, designing opportunities, and facilitating innovation. Continuing changes in higher education will open opportunities for new ways to think, learn, create, and grow. The Hub facilitates the passion and inventiveness of students, faculty, staff, and stakeholders both inside and outside of MSU to create, identify, and accelerate new ways to collaborate, learn, research, and deliver instruction, visit hub.msu.edu

GEL Lab @ MSU

The mission of the Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) Lab at Michigan State University is to design innovative prototypes, techniques, and complete games for entertainment and learning and to advance state of the art knowledge about social and individual effects of digital games. The GEL Lab is an association of game research and design faculty and students at Michigan State University, primarily in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, visit gel.msu.edu