Amid ongoing protests across the U.S. sparked by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, protests that are being met with police violence, game developers around the game industry are taking to social media to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement and black and brown communities.
While most of these statements are polite affirmations of solidarity, some studios have made clear notable efforts to support black and brown folks both in games and at large.
Developer and publisher Kitfox Games, for example, published a statement of support on Twitter that also included proof of charitable donations and a small list of resources for people looking to support relevant causes. Publisher PopAgenda also published proof of a charitable donation to the Black Lives Matter Global Network, and offered to directly connect with black and aspiring game devs to provide additional support.
Lionkiller dev Sisi Jiang has put together an online Google Sheet collecting the names, contact info, and specialties of people in the game industry who have publicly volunteered to offer mentorship and advice to black game devs. Many of those volunteering have done so in response to a post from the Game Developers of Color Expo Twitter account calling for mentors to volunteer their services, and for black game devs to show their work in the replies. The organization has also continued to promote and highlight the work of black and brown game devs on its Twitter account, as it has done since its inception.
Both Microsoft and Sony have made public statements of support on Twitter, with Microsoft continuing to update its Twitter account with brief quotes about U.S. racial violence and injustice from its black and brown employees. Sony has also canceled its planned PlayStation 5 event on June 4th, and employees report the Japanese company is matching charitable donations made in support of organizations which promote racial justice, civil rights, and black and brown communities.
Nintendo of America (or any branch of Nintendo) has made no noticeable public statement or show of support at this time.
As the industry continues to highlight the contributions and work of black and brown game devs, it’s worth remembering that within the past year thousands of game makers were surveyed as part of the GDC State of the Industry report, which included some relevant comments about how their companies are investing in diversity and inclusion initiatives.
“The staff who aren’t cis white males seem to be disproportionately a) contract employees and/ or b) affected by layoffs. On paper our numbers are better now than a few years ago, but I’m not sure if retention is going well,” wrote in one respondent.
“Due to the candidate pools available to us, if we’re not consistently diligent at pushing forward diversity candidates we go from being diverse to a pile of white dudes in three months if we don’t pay attention,” added another.