🎮✊🏿 Black Lives Matter

EA, Sony, Xbox, Activision, Naughty Dog, Star Wars, Marvel, And More Call For End To Racism

This is a great resource for gaming companies that have said something about the Black Lives Matter movement and the responses to the murder of George Floyd. Unfortunately, as you'll see with the other articles listed in this issue, a lot of these companies don't have actionable plans in place to back up their statements.

Saying something is one thing, but only doing it for the press is despicable. I hope that in weeks to come, we see follow-ups from these companies with solid plans that will support the Black community. If you're wondering how they would do that, there's some great articles later on this issue that answer that question.

Image credit: Sony, Nintendo, and Xbox

Organisations and initiatives supporting racial equity in the global games industry

This article differs from the GameSpot article by focusing on organizations and initiatives that are providing racial equity, including funds, training, online communities, and advocacy groups.

These organizations are putting their money and effort where their mouth is, unlike most of the big gaming companies.

Image credit: Black Girl Gamers

Game Companies Say They’re Supporting Black Lives Matter, But Few Are Offering Specifics

This article is incredibly disappointing to read. Not at any fault of this writer, but solely because most of the gaming companies contacted by Kotaku did not respond with any comments of how they plan to "enact real and meaningful change."

I'm happy that so many people in the gaming community are speaking out for the Black Lives Matter movement, but putting a couple of sentences on a social media post is not enough. These companies need to develop solid plans that can be put in action over the coming years to bring a change.

Image credit: This article / David Ryder

Support Black Game Developers

This is a great resource for discovering games developed by Black Creators, studios that are focused on highlighting Black narratives, and upcoming events to support. Some of the highlights in this article will overlap with other articles linked in this week's issue, but it's so important to learn multiple ways to support Black communities.

Also, this lead me to discover Rad Magpie, a nonprofit that provides underrepresented people access to game development tools and skills. They do it by hosting game jams, a college program, and owning an in-house studio. Keep an eye out to see what moves this team is making, I know I will.

Image credit: Rad Magpie

The Video Game Industry Has No Clue How to Respond to Protests

If you've seen the posts that gaming companies have made in response to the murder of George Floyd and something felt off, this article perfectly describes what it is. Almost every single one is beating around the bush in order to "appease" their Black audience but not upset their white audience too much. It's incredibly sad.

I encourage you to follow the author, Gita Jackson, on Twitter. She's been a great voice during this time, and you should go show her some love.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

I was published this week on Game Critics, a full review of Fallout 76: Wastelanders. But in light of everything's that going on, that doesn't really matter. Like many publications, I'm dedicating this week to highlight Black creators and communities in video games as well as how the industry is responding. Black creators and communities should always be highlighted and I'm taking this week to learn to do that.

I stand against racism and the police brutality that has been so rampant throughout the past few years. I realize my errors of not taking a more serious stance against this earlier, but I hope that I can change the error of my ways and let the world know that Black Lives Matter. This past week we marched in the name of George Floyd, but I know that the protests won't stop there. I know there's a change coming and I'm looking forward to the better America that is one the other side of this change.

I want to highlight The Pause Button. In this week's issue, they included an incredible opening statement about their support of Black Lives. Their words surpass anything I could have written and I'm so proud to see the gaming newsletter community support basic human rights.

I also want to highlight The Game Fanatics, a gaming blog and community that is run by and highlights diverse content creators. They're also the creators of the incredible image associated with this issue. They've been spreading knowledge about the place of Black content creators in the gaming industry and I'm so thankful for their voice. Here's a link to the Black Fist image.

This past week had a lot of great articles that highlight Black voices, so many that I can't cover all of them in one issue. I encourage you to go and find even more articles that highlight these voices, educate yourself on these issues, donate to Black Lives Matter causes, and protest. Whatever you do, don't be silent.

As always, stay safe.

Development

Minorities In Game Development Still Don't Have The Support They Need

Hey look at that, another one by Gita Jackson!

Normally, I would link the original article instead of one that highlights bits and pieces from it, but I've used up all of my "free" viewings for the New York Times. Maybe you fall in the same boat, so from now on I'll link free articles that have a link to the full article, and you can make the decision on if you want to read the full thing.

We should be aware of the struggles that minorities are going through in our industry so we can better understand how to support them.

Image credit: This article / Despelote

Community

Street Fighter Event Benefiting Black Lives Matter Demolishes Fundraising Expectations

This is incredible, especially during this time, especially in this game genre.

The gaming community can do so so much to help when we band together.

Image credit: Capcom

Rockstar Games Will Temporarily Shut Down GTA Online And Red Dead Online In Support Of Black Lives Matter

Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games were two of the last big gaming companies to release a statement about Black Lives Matter and the murder of George Floyd. Now, they've made a statement, and they're response is to shut down their online services for a short period of time.

While this is better than doing nothing, it's still incredibly underwhelming, especially coming from a company that just reported $729 million in total net bookings at the beginning of Q4. They haven't even said what other steps they're taking to support the Black community. They could follow in the footsteps of Infinity Ward and commit to getting rid of hate-speech and racism in their online games, or they could at least make an announcement saying that they'll do better to represent Black lives in their upcoming titles. So far, none of that has happened.

I know they can do better.

Image credit: Rockstar Games

Animal Crossing fans fight escapist image amid Black Lives Matter

Initially, Animal Crossing: New Horizons became a protest tool in Hong Kong. Now, it's playing a part in the protests in the United States.

It's encouraging to see so many of these organizations and accounts that focus on gaming to break out from their regularly scheduled program to speak up for the Black Lives Matter movement. I've said it before and I'll continue saying it - the gaming community can make a huge impact on this world when we band together. This time is no different, it's time to let the world know that Black Lives Matter.

Image credit: Nintendo

How You Can Support Black Gamers

I know Kotaku has come under fire over the past few months/year because of the way their parent-company has handled things (we even covered it here), but their writers have been a great source for actionable ways you can support Black Lives in the gaming space.

Image credit: this article

Infinity Ward plans to crack down on racism in Call Of Duty

Call of Duty holds the spot in my mind as one of the most toxic gaming environments in the community. This is reinforced by the common use of COD-like games in comedy skits that highlight bro gamers and hateful speech. So, it's no surprise that racism is no stranger to COD chat rooms.

This is a step in the right direction, but only time will tell how serious Infinity Ward is about this task. There's no tried and true way to fix this issue, so it will take a lot of monitoring to get this done right. In the past, we've talked about toxic chats and comms in other games, like Valorant. Riot Games said they would try to do better, but again there's no playbook on this. In order to try and avoid it all together, Amazon's first game Crucible doesn't include in-game comms. This way, Crucible can't come under fire for having toxic and racist communications within their game. It's not a long term solution, and some might see it as cowardly, but it shuts down an opportunity for toxic gamers to ruin another online game.

Infinity Ward, as well as many other gaming companies, should have been doing this a long time ago.

Image credit: Infinity Ward

Before You Go

Silence is violence

Thanks for taking the time to check out this week's issue. I hope that these articles helped open your eyes about what minorities are going through, especially in the gaming industry, and how you can support them. Before this week, I never focused on how I could support Black content creators in gaming, but these articles have helped me understand how and why I should.

If you're looking for more resources on how you can support BLM and how you can educate yourself, here's a few that I've found very helpful:

Support Black Lives: Donations, Petitions, and More

Ally Resources For Supports of Black Lives Matter

Systemic Racism Explained

The Disturbing History of the Suburbs (Redlining explained)