Hello.

I wanted to ask is the "Participants should be in the US only" rule is strict. I understand it's for tax-related stuff, but is it ok for countries like France. What if only 1 member in the team is in the US ? It there any way to make it accessible for developers outside the US ?

Thanks by advance !

The jam is currently US-only, especially for legal and tax reasons. However, there may be a relatively low-risk way to expand participation internationally without significantly increasing complexity.

From a tax perspective, international payouts are already standard for US companies:

• Non-US winners can submit a W-8BEN form, which in many cases reduces US withholding tax to 0% under tax treaties (including most EU countries).
• Prize taxes are then handled locally by the recipient in their country, not by the organizer.
• Cash prizes are generally not subject to VAT in the EU, since they are not payments for goods/services.

In addition, you own 2020 jam's rules already state that “all federal, state, and local taxes… are the responsibility of the winner”.

That change would significantly expand your pool of high-quality submissions, and make the jam open for everyone.

After some additional researches :

- The high amount of the prizes doesn’t introduce new tax constraints, only standard KYC and reporting requirements, which are already handled in international payouts.
- The United States already has tax treaties with the vast majority of developed countries, including almost all of Europe and major game development hubs worldwide.

Because of that, eligibility could be extended to non-US participants who :
- reside in a country with a US tax treaty
- can provide a valid W-8BEN (or W-8BEN-E)
- agree that all local taxes are their responsibility

You can find a complete list of eligible countries here : https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/tax-treaty-tables.

This framework is already used by many game jams.

Thank you for considering our request.

Thanks for the clarification, that makes sense regarding different contest laws.

One possible way to reduce this complexity while still allowing international prize eligibility could be to include a standard clause like : “Void where prohibited by law.”

This is commonly used in international competitions to avoid having to comply with every jurisdiction individually, as participants from restricted regions are automatically excluded. This could significantly reduce legal risk while expanding access to international developers.