How much progress has the industry made on diversity, equity, and inclusion?
Jeffrey Rousseau
Staff Writer
Thursday 17th February 2022
The good news is the games industry has been making progress on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). However, that progress has been slow, and particularly so for Black professionals.
As noted by a recent Washington Post article, the IGDA's 2021 Developer survey report said that the group has doubled in 16 years to account for 4% of the industry.
That survey is open to developers globally but it leans heavily North American. For comparison, the 2019 US Census reports that Black people make up 13% of the country's population. In Canada, the 2016 Census found 3.5% of the population identified themselves as Black.
The industry by and large acknowledged the systemic issues present within it like many others in 2020. This was in direct response to the nationwide protests calling for equality that followed the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man who was killed while in police custody in May of 2020.
Many companies came forward to express support for Black Lives Matter support and promised to be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive of Black professionals.
With the two-year anniversary of those promises coming up in a few months, GamesIndustry.Biz reached out to DEI professionals and researchers to ask them about the progress the industry has made and their predictions looking ahead.
"Overall progress is being made when conversations are taking place when BIPOC folk are speaking out about their experiences, and setting boundaries"
Rejess Marshall
"Overall progress is being made when conversations are taking place when BIPOC folk are speaking out about their experiences, and setting boundaries," said Rejess Marshall, head of diversity and
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