Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has unveiled the So-Fu project, an accelerator program for indie game developers.

The program aims to provide applicants with mentorship, expenses support, and business connections.

Eligibility for the So-Fu initiative includes applicants must be younger than 35 and have graduated junior high school by April 1, 2024.

Indie developers will participate in a four-part game program. It will involve attending lectures, developing project production plans, and a final presentation around February 2025. At the end, applicants can present their work to game industry stakeholders.

So-Fu’s mentors include developers such as Flamebair Games’ Tomoko Miya and Room6 Inc.’s representative director, Masashi Kimura.

As developer Takaaki Ichijo noted on social media, this accelerator is the first of its kind from the Japanese government to support indie game makers.

Ichijo is also an executive member of the Indie Game Incubator, which is collaborating with the So-Fu initiative.

Indie Japanese game makers have until April 26 to sign up for the program.