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We Got Game

By Jade | Tue, Jul 22, 2008 3:34 pm

With this past week’s E3 Expo , I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about video games in the black community.  As a percentage of the population, we are disproportionately represented in the gaming community in terms of how much we spend.   We love gaming!  There is a “Black Gamers for Obama Community”  and an invite only groups for friend code exchanges on the Wii.  However, when it comes to the development of games, we aren’t even there.  Back in April, Angela did a post with information from the MTV’s multiplayer blog about black people in the video game industry.  I was very excited to learn about BlueHeat Games a black owned video game company based out of Atlanta, that develops “big games for small screens”.  But apart from that… crickets.  I got nothing.

Hold on, let me take that back.  Reggie Fils-Aimé is Haitian American (he’s the president of Nintendo).  The Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Nintendo is also black, and female.  Her name is Denise Kaigler.  Apart from Nintendo though, if the major gaming companies have black people in high places, they aren’t putting them out there.

Video games give us a chance to get away from the day to day grind and are serving more and more as a global social networking platform.  Not all of us get to be Star Athletes, Snipers, lead Guitarist in a band, speak to the animals AND take friends along for the ride regardless to where they live with no long distance charges or travel fees (unless it’s one of those subscription MMOs) all from your living room.  We can do what we want in games, and chances are if you are in to something, there’s a game for it and someone out there who wants to play with you.

Game play is also being personalized with things like Miis (for the record, Wii online play is horrible), gamertags and webcams.   As all gaming  platforms gain more connectivity and improve their social network aspect, expanding it beyond just the living room, but integrating with handheld devices and online communities.  The way money is being spent on games ($8.3 billion so far this year), the sky is the limit, and we are playing so there is a great market opportunity.  So why are so few black people capitalizing on this?

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  • I know I have seen that there are people of African decent that are deep into the the videogame industry. They don't head up studios or are any of the big names of videogaming (outside of Newsweek's N'Gai Croal), but they are there. And as Angela's post mentioned, there was the mention the BCFX game from this past December, that apparently did do much.

    It's not so much about capitalizing as much, I think. If you draw a parallel to rap music, If more people than just of from African decent likes it and buys it, it will sell well. As of now, that is the sad fact. Plus, the stereotypes of people of color in games need to die. We need less Cole Train, for sure. Sports games can't be helped.
  • Excellent points. We spend too much disposable (and not-so-disposable) income on the video game industry to not have representation within the ranks of the game makers. The Multiplayer blog did an excellent job profiling those who both make games (like Morgan Gray) and those who cover the gaming industry (like N'Gai Croal). However, I am positive that there are more black people in the gaming industry, and I hope that they network together to influence the industry. I also hope that young people realize that they can have careers working in the game industry instead of trying to be the next LeBron James.
  • Jade, thanks for this post. I normally try to stay up on black people doing big things with respect to PR and Marketing and I've never heard of them.

    We need to promote more people like this, so people in my generation and the ones to follow can really see these industries as real career options.

    Anjuan, I actually want people to try to be the next LeBron. Not LeBron the player, but LeBron the marketer: LRMR Marketing

    http://crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl...
  • @Roddykat I get you, but when I was watching the live broadcast of the e3 conference on g4, the only black faces I saw were from nintendo. Black people are 9% of the gaming population worldwide but we are less than 1% of the workforce in any capacity bringing games to market. I forgot to bookmark the report I found that went over that (it was from 2005) but I will see if I can find it.

    We don't need to be heading up the press conferences, and be CEOs and VPs just be present at the core of the industry to help influence, like rap music, as you said :)

    I also think the stereotypes need to die. We play everything just like everyone else. I mean, I love Rainbow Six... all of them. But Animal Crossing is still my favorite game ever lol.

    @Anjuan I 100% agree. There is a ton of money being made and we are investing too heavily in the pie to not really be getting any returns.

    @James Glad I can be of help. And I agree. I think the effect of seeing black people out there doing does so much to inspire young kids. It changes the way you think about what you are doing/playing.
  • you raise a point I've been screaming about for some time. With 2 others I cofounder the Urban Video Game Academy - a free to inner-city youth summer & after school program to get more youth into the development of gaming & getting them to be engaged beyond consumption but to also understand the biz of gaming. There is also a "blacks in gaming movement that happens at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). The youth program we launched was with no funds at E3
    in '02. Many ppl will tell you the cost of entry in gaming is very, very steep BUT that's old thinking & exactly why I think black game developers should focus immediately in mobile, especially the iPhone revenue share opport I posted on blackweb last week. The hurdle to develop for mobile is lower, less cost & can give developers a portfolio of proof to get the funding they need.
  • @Mario. That is awesome!! I love links:

    Here is the link to the Urban Video Game Academy:
    http://www.uvga.org/

    Are you guys still active?

    I have been speaking to a couple of people since I posted this and I think that we might be on the cusp of people really being ready to break in.

    And I agree 100% with starting with mobile... for everything actually lol. Kids most intimate form of technology now is their mobile device and/or their iPod. And Apple has 1,000,001 promotions with their education discounts to get a free iPod touch with purchase of a laptop.
  • Honestly, I cannot believe how there is no quality representation of African Americans in games. This should be the subject of a boycott given the amount of money African Americans spend. But I would be really happy to see some flash games and non-stereotypical characters featured as more than just a side kick in PS3/XBOX/Wii games.

    Look forward to more discussion.
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