The History of Black People in Gaming
According to history, it all started with the late-great Jerry Lawson!
He was a Black engineer who led his team to create the very first home video game system. This innovative creation intrigued the gaming market of that time with its interchangeable cartridges, setting the stage for playing games at home during the 1970s.
Future gaming systems like Atari and Super Nintendo followed his path, creating a legacy for the Lawson family for generations to come.
Then came another Black engineer by the name of Ed Smith, who took at-home gaming to another level by reimagining game consoles. Smith used his skills to launch The Imagination Machine, the very first hybrid video game console that also acted as a personal home computer.
Where Are Black People in Today’s Game Design Industry?
Today, hundreds of thousands of people work across the globe in the video game industry. However, we are still the minority in this multi-billion-dollar arena.
A 2021 International Game Developers Association survey showed that about 5% of the research respondents were Black. This leaves an enormous gap between our gaming professionals and the 80% who were white.
Other surveys conducted over the years show that the number of Black developers has increased. And although the growth has been slow, the majority of these players are within the independent or indie game space.
Most recently, five courageous designers have been forging their own path and bringing their unique experience to the world of video games.
1. Catt Small – Black Product Designer & Video Game Developer
This Brooklyn, New York native started learning how to program at the early age of 10. She used code to make her own dress-up dolls and eventually went on to create the video game called Train Jumper.
The goal of the game was to run to catch the Bronx train while moving people out of the way within 30 seconds:
“That was so fun because it was what I always wished that I could do in real life, but you know, you can’t exactly bump into people and shove them on your way to the train because that’s very rude. But I just loved being able to get my frustration out in the form of this game.”
Catt Small
Another early creation from Small was SweetXheart. This game featured the day in the life of a Black woman named Kara, going to work and school while engaging with others in the Bronx.
“There was parts in this game about harassment because being a black woman in New York City, you experience a fair amount of street harassment. A man actually told me that he was not going to harass women or catcall women anymore after playing the game.”
Catt Small
Small co-founded the 2016 Game Devs of Color Expo, giving Black African Diasporas a space to showcase their work and network with other Developers of Color. Since then, the event has had partnerships with Oculus, Nintendo, Xbox and other such gaming brands.
Since 2019, the Game Devs of Color Expo has donated well over $360,000 to up-and-coming Game Developers of Color in America.
Advice for Aspiring Game Industry Professionals from Catt Small
“Find your people, because your community is going to be the thing that gives you energy to keep going, and your community is going to be what inspires you and helps you to keep pushing to learn and grow.”
Catt Small
2. Charles McGregor – Black Entrepreneur & Video Game Developer
This Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota Black game creator was introduced to gaming at three years old by his father back when Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World were the games of the day.
In elementary, he decided he wanted to own his own video game business. That’s when he asked his computer scientist dad to teach him how to make video games. So, he learned how to code as a kid and went on to develop a small prototype of a twin-stick shooter in college, which eventually became a complete game.
“If you’re familiar with Geometry Wars, or I’d normally say it’s like Asteroids except you can move and shoot using the two sticks unlike a controller.”
Charles McGregor
He went on to launch the game Glitch In The System and eight more video games within a two-year timeframe.
While in college, he was usually the only Black person in his computer science courses. This was the norm until he started attending industry-related events, where he encountered more Black people who were interested in gaming, something he really needed at the time.
“When you are immersed in an environment where you’re no longer the minority person, that is something that it feels like you’re breathing a sigh of relief. You’re able to talk about things and relate to people.”
Charles McGregor
owning a Game Development Company
Today, the HyperDot action arcade game creator runs the video game company, Tribe Games, which he founded. He prides himself on launching games that are “clearly just made for Black people.” The game is known for showcasing cultural references:
“I like ’80s and ’90s hip hop. So, there’s actually a couple of references to Eric B. & Rakim. There’s a level called ‘Know The Ledge’ and if you lose in that level, you’ll get an achievement that says you didn’t know the ledge, referencing one of their songs. There’s just a lot of subtle hints.”
Charles McGregor
3. Geneva Heyward – Black Video Game Developer
During high school, this Brooklyn, New York native enrolled in a free arts program at NYU, attending weekend video game design classes through the program.
“I didn’t really think I’d get into it, but I got it. There is when I learned that you didn’t have to have a goofy amount of money to make games at home. You didn’t have to have all the expensive programs and there were free ones.”
Geneva Heyward
Heyward went on to choose the developer field over animation and learned how to make games at home on a budget, using free programs.
Treachery in Beatdown City, one of Heyward’s latest projects, combines old-fashioned butt-kicking with politics. Unlike most M-rated games, these characters apologize for their bad behavior in the end.
“You are trying to rescue the president who’s been kidnapped by ninjas. You’re going through New York and running into all of these weird people who are being racists and homophobes – awful people – but you get to beat them up!”
Geneva Heyward
Being Young & Black in the Video Game Industry
Heyward advises young people who want to become game designers to indulge in a lot of industry networking. The key is to make connections so you never feel ‘alone’:
“I feel like on the more indie side [of games] there’s a lot more diversity and collaborating with people online. The game industry … it is diverse but the problem is that the people who get the most money are just the cishet, white dudes.”
Geneva Heyward
Although earning a degree from NYU, Heyward wanted other aspiring Black developers to know that it’s not the only way to break into the business. Gaining industry knowledge and experience while working on your own titles to build an impressive portfolio can be just as effective:
“There are scholarships, there are lots of programs that usually offer lessons for free. I know there’s Code Coven, I know Black Voices in Gaming is a thing, I know the Game Devs of Color Expo is a thing. You do not have to go through everything alone. There are communities out there that can help.”
Geneva Heyward
4. Neil Jones – Black Indie Game Developer
For this Detroit, Michigan native, it all began as a challenge to beat his grandmother’s scores on the game Bejeweled. His high school pretty much forced him to decide on a future career path. He was intrigued by commercials insisting that kids can make video games.
“That’s the only thing I could imagine me being happy doing.”
Neil Jones
After high school graduation, he attended a private institution to learn more about developing video games. That’s where he learned about different types of game design software and 3D modeling. But overall, he boasts of being a self-taught indie game designer.
In time, Jones went on to develop the futuristic Tokyo-style Detroit game called Temple Run. The main character, Wally, tries to get away from enemies after gaining special powers from the family’s lost treasure that he found through his journey. With the help of a friend, he also developed the games soundtrack:
“We had rappers come in, singers come in and record over that. That’s not really something you see a lot of in games, especially indie games.”
Neil Jones
According to the Indie game designer also known as Aerial Knight, he’s now seeing more People of Color strike it big in the independent sector of the industry. But it’s still hard for these professionals to launch lucrative careers within corporations because they simply don’t hire Black people to develop digital games:
“I don’t think we’ll ever be able to fix the original sin of these massive studios who have hired people over the last 20 years actively not hiring Black people. We can never make up for the lost time.”
Neil Jones
Black Kids Should Launch Gaming Careers
Even though racial barriers still exists, he still encourages Black people to get into the video game business. This is especially true for Black kids, whose parents tend to discourage them because they think there’s no money in making or playing video games:
“I kind of just told them there’s a lot of different jobs in gaming — community managers to project managers. He doesn’t have to be a master at coding or be a master artist to kind of get into this.”
Neil Jones
His overall advice for any Person of Color trying to break into gaming is to find your own space and voice. And do what you like. This helps your passion shine through your game creations.
5. Xalavier Nelson, Jr. – Black Writer, Entrepreneur & Video Game Developer
At the young age of 12, this El Paso, Texas native read a Duke Nukem Forever article, and it changed his life. He found that game journalists received free games to play, test and review. So, he put a career plan in place:
“So, thanks to the power of the internet, at 12 years old, I pretended to be an adult and I got my first job.”
Xalavier Nelson, Jr.
Nelson spent the next six years writing for big-name industry publications, like Polygon or PC Gamer, before he was even old enough to drink, drive or vote. In time, he wanted out of the “grueling and draining” industry, but he wanted to make his own video game before exiting left.
“The problem is, I loved it. I found a deep joy and satisfaction in the process of making a video game.”
Xalavier Nelson, Jr.
Over time, Nelson went on to create All Hail the Spider God, and fictional interactive adventure game. He also worked on games like Trading Simulator, Space Warlord Organ and An Airport For Aliens Currently Run By Dog. In 2019, he found true joy in the game development arena when he started his own studio known as Strange Scaffold.
Challenges for Black Developers in the Industry
According to Nelson, Black people in the gaming industry face multiple issues:
“The first is giving people their first opportunity, because they haven’t done it already. The inability to create space for people to start their journey in the first place is a terminal illness which is currently strangling the games industry.”
Xalavier Nelson, Jr.
Senior-level Developers of Color are still hard to come by simply because there wasn’t enough training for them in the past years to enable them to reach this level by now:
“The second major factor is that once people are in, what you’re looking at for all the people who are Black who have survived, is that they’re survivors. They have existed in toxic environments. They are flowers in the desert. If you bring in a group of 10 people and one survives and becomes a standout, it is not an acclamation of your recruitment efforts, it is an indictment that this one star exists because you failed to preserve the other nine.”
Xalavier Nelson, Jr.
Today, the founder of Strange Scaffold is also the studio’s head writer. He still develops video games and encourages Black kids and teens to explore careers in game development.
Learn How to Design Video Games
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