*African Americans consist of a huge chunk of video gamers out there, as they make the 2nd largest ethnicity in the industry after Asian Americans. Even though this is the case, only 2.5% of the entire industry constitutes Black game developers.
Not only are Black tech professionals missing out on the coolest jobs, but they also aren’t able to remove negative portrayals and stereotypes from existing games. That being said, there are some African Americans in the video game industry that are trying to change exactly that. Let’s look at these brilliant minds and their works.
1. Andrew Augustin
Augustin is the creative director and founder of a company called Notion Games LLC while being a notable member of the Black Enterprise. Before he had launched his own company, he had worked as a creative designer for Edge of Reality and hence was the person behind the world-building game Sims 3 Pets for Play Station 3 and Xbox 360.
2. Gordon Bellamy
This man had started his career by managing to secure the responsibilities of a lead designer for the Madden franchise brought to us by EA. After this accomplishment, he was appointed as the executive director for the International Game Developers Association. His most recent work has taken him deep into the world of virtual reality games and automated simulations for PC and mobile games.
3. Mordon Gray
Gray was in the gaming industry, even before the most famous video gamers of our time were even born. He had managed to get himself involved in some very notable projects that include The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, Star Wars, and Tomb Raider.
4. Derek Manns
Manns is yet another notable member of the Black Enterprise who’s known for founding his company Sungura Games. In an interview, he even mentioned that he has made sure his company is primarily staffed with Black professionals and has been steadily growing in this manner. He even offered some advice for people who plan on joining the industry soon. “Those looking to join gaming, make sure you’re good at math. Also, look into schools that offer gaming in undergrad.”
5. Dennis Mathews
We round-up our list with the founder and lead game developer of Revelation Interactive. Dennis Mathews started off in the aerospace industry but eventually settled into designing interactive games.
Other then these bright minds, you should definitely look up Marcus Montgomery, Joseph Saulter, Laura Teclemariam, Lisette Titre, and Karisma Williams. Hopefully, 2020 would be the year that will see many more African Americans in the video game industry.
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