Black Voices in Gaming and the journey to sustainability

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Creating a more inclusive games industry requires a lot of work and longevity. Such efforts across the business sector have gained traction over the years. Recent years have seen a number of organizations and platforms created to help overlooked communities find a place in the industry, among them Black Voices in Gaming.

Since its establishment in 2020, Black Voices in Gaming has tried to stay the course with its mission statement: to uplift and showcase the contributions of Black game developers and has become a staple at media showcases.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Black Voices in Gaming director and co-founder Justin Woodward says the most significant lesson for the organization has been creating work that leads to more sustainability for Black professionals within the industry.

Woodward says, "I would say the takeaway is how do you create a nonprofit organization, find the funding involved to help developers, find the opportunities to fund the organization to pay your team and get the work done? A lot of this stuff is [still] pro bono.

"I still work with Humble on the Black Game Developer Fund. So how do we transcend a fund [and deliver] critical information and knowledge necessary to make sustainable businesses?

The Black Voices in Gaming director explains just as the summer protests of 2020 spoke for Black equality; the message remains the same: people of color must be in more decision-making positions within the industry. Addressing that opportunity and getting more developers from overlooked communities is why Black Voices in Gaming exists.

As the organization focuses on spotlighting Black game developers, it has maintained a consistent media presence. It places games to be featured in the Media Indie Exchange [MIX], which Woodward owns, and the Guerrilla Collective showcase. It has been regularly featured in larger publications as well.

Woodward explains that the organization's broadcasting being so present is also a business decision to help it maintain its mission statement.

"[This] needs to encompass multiple people, but we already have our hooks sunk into our partners, partnerships with others, with the broadcasting teams. [For example], we work with IGN, a MIX client. We help run their promotional platform, so we provide them with a lot of content from our events," he says."Every time we have a MIX event, we feed them all of our trailers, so they can utilize them however they want."

"[Black Voices in Gaming] is providing the opportunity to have content. Doing it as much as possible without too much fatigue is extremely intentional"

He continues, "I'm not saying [many] of these websites/platforms don't have the means to create or support diversity initiatives.

"Their bread and butter are ads supporting AAA trailers, interviews, and the like. So [Black Voices in Gaming] is providing the opportunity to have content. Doing it as much as possible without too much fatigue is extremely intentional."

Woodward adds that drive to figure out how to provide lasting support led to the creation of the 2023 XPerience Excellence Accelerator. In collaboration with Netflix, the organization's first accelerator aims to give funding to mobile game developers to elevate their projects.

He explains that the incubator grew from the organization's existing partnership with Netflix Games.

"It was pretty organic when we were communicating with Netflix. 'Hey, we want to start pitching games to you, and we have this amazing cohort of great developers. They just haven't been able to have the opportunity to get visibility on their game in development to potentially get a publishing deal and some financing.' So that's where [the conversation] started.

"As talks kept going on, the idea was, what if we did something where we partnered up with an accelerator for a limited amount of time?

"As talks kept going on, the idea was, what if we did something where we partnered up with an accelerator for a limited amount of time? Netflix is the primary sponsor and supporter of this, and see where it goes to start a long-term relationship potentially?"

Woodward notes that aside from the program's monetary support, each cohort developer has a relationship with Netflix, which could be just as helpful in the long term. Also, while it is early, the organization intends to have more developer programs and to have them support Black developers on PC and console in addition to the mobile creators served by the Xperience Excellence Accelerator.

He explains, "Mobile is very competitive and difficult financially if you do not have a systematic approach that allows you to make games as a service. This requires a ton of capital relationships with Apple, Google, and [so forth]. Then you also have to factor in player acquisition, which is quite high if you don't have those systems, which makes entry difficult.

"I think it's extremely important because we get pigeonholed into surface-level video game employment, meaning as Black people, we're known as entertainers"

The organization's other focus is to showcase individuals with different positions and developers from different regions of the African diaspora.

For example, it has highlighted Jamaican game creator Graham Reid and his title Super Space Club,as well as the Afro-Brazilian game studio Sue The Real developing the title One Beat Min.

The executive says the reason for having these different people on during its shows is twofold. One, is to show that Black people are not a monolith and two, working in the games industry can encompass many possible careers.

"I think it's extremely important because we get pigeonholed into surface-level video game employment, meaning as Black people, we're known as entertainers."

He explains, "Maybe you aren't good at playing games; maybe you aren't a YouTuber with a personality. You may be an introvert, but you're good at making textures, or you are good at discerning sounds, and you could be a sound designer.

"Or you're good at writing, and you could do editorial work or write stories; you can help be a producer. These things are not really promoted because they're not glamorous."

"The main thing is just to make Black Voices in Gaming and XPerience Excellence Accelerator an ongoing sustainable platform..."

He adds, "In our communities, we need to start promoting things that can make you sustainable in your career and as an entrepreneur. I [believe in] spreading the message; if you love games and feel like this is your industry, there are multiple ways to get in, and it's not impossible."

Looking ahead, Woodward explains that the organization's goal is to provide longevity to Black professionals in the gaming space.

He says, "The main thing is just to make Black Voices in Gaming and Xperience Excellence Accelerator an ongoing sustainable platform that can help developers. [To keep] supporting them with opportunities for networking, funding, publishing, and the distribution of their titles."

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