Amazon Games Partners with Black Voices in Gaming at D.I.C.E. Summit 2024

23.02.2024 - 22:17 / amazongames.com

At the 2024 D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, Amazon Games partnered with Black Voices in Gaming to provide sponsorships to underrepresented game devs and entrepreneurs, allowing them to attend the event and connect with some of the biggest names in the business.

Black Voices in Gaming, a nonprofit based out of Oakland, California, was co-founded by Justin Woodward and Alfanso Hooker with the purpose of increasing Black representation and making space for opportunities within the games industry. This sponsorship for a trip to the D.I.C.E. Summit is important because it allows Black games industry professionals to network and connect with the industry’s most influential people.

“It's who you talk to and the relationships you build,” Woodward explained. “Once you're in the business and you do some good things or make good games, that money opens up. It's a weird phenomenon.”

For Woodward, it’s all about getting Black entrepreneurs in the same room with those who understand and know how to make things happen in gaming.

“Some people are privileged to have those opportunities,” Woodward said. Some people have those opportunities earlier because of their parents or because they went to the right school. And Black folks don't have that. We're not in the conversation. We're not in the room. Sure, there are a few, but not enough.”

Fellow game developer Shawn Alexander Allen, who has worked for AAA studios like Rockstar Games, is another instrumental figure in the Black Voices in Gaming organization. While getting to the D.I.C.E. Summit is a massive step for any developer, having an idea of what you need as a games professional is also beneficial before stepping onto the convention floor.

“If you're not in that mindset of ‘how am I going to execute?’ or ‘how am I already executing on an idea or specific game?’ then I don't think D.I.C.E. is for you,” Allen said. “D.I.C.E. is for people who have an idea of, 'I want to do a thing.’ And that makes it very special. That’s what we aim to bring is people that have that drive to make something happen. We spend a lot of time in our Discord trying to give people all the info we can to help them be successful. But Discord can only go so far, hence going to D.I.C.E.”

The talented young game developers we spoke to all have that drive and mindset that Allen spoke of to make it in the industry.

Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Neil Jones went straight from college to develop his own video games. Since he was a kid, playing titles on the Sega Genesis alongside his beloved grandmother, Jones has always loved gaming and creating new and fascinating worlds.

His first big title is Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield , an action-packed narrative runner set in Jones’ hometown of Detroit. Here,