A video game consultant organization, Black Girl Gamers, that consulted on Square Enix’s disastrous Forspoken game appears to be discriminating in their hiring practices while simultaneously claiming they are being harassed.
A screenshot from Forspoken (2023), Square Enix
Back on February 19th, the organization appeared to post a job opportunity on X limiting the applicants based on race and gender. The organization wrote on, “Looking for Black Women Content Creators that make Dungeons & Dragons (DND) content for some potential brand work! Hit us up!”
Black Girl Gamers on X
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Ironically, a little less than a month later, the organization claimed it was being harassed, while not providing any evidence.
It posted on X, “The amount of harassment we’ve had recently due this ‘Gamergate 2’ is not surprising. Gamers that thought the industry revolved around them and their comforts are now realizing it doesn’t.”
“We’ve had emails, comments and threats but you know what WE’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE,” the post concluded.
Black Girl Gamers on X
Interestingly, in a post shortly after that one, the organization implied that telling it ‘You’re not being harassed!’ is harassment.
It wrote on X, “‘You’re not being harassed!’ whilst simultaneously partaking in the harassment is INSANE.”
Black Girl Gamers on X
As noted above the organization consulted with Square Enix on Forspoken.
Their website details just how involved the company was, “Black Girl Gamers were hired to consult Forspoken to provide insight on narrative and feedback on a pre-release build of the game that spanned from the gameplay experience to the portrayal of Frey as a female protagonist of Black descent including topics such as colorism and texturism. This was an important consultation given that Frey is one of the first female protagonists of Black descent in the fantasy game genre.”
Black Girl Gamers explains their involvement on Forspoken (2023), Square Enix
Square Enix President and Representative Director Yosuke Matsuda admitted the games sales were not good during the company’s financial results briefing back in February 2023.
He said, “Reviews of Forspoken, which we released on January 24, 2023, have been challenging. However, the game has also received positive feedback on its action features, including its parkour and combat capabilities, so it has yielded results that will lead to improvement of our development capabilities of other games in the future.”
Next, he discussed the game’s sales, “That said, its sales have been lackluster, and while the performance of new titles with February and March release dates will be the ultimate determinant, we see considerable downside risk to our FY2023/3 earnings.”
A screenshot from Forspoken (2023), Square Enix
The sales for the game were so bad, Square Enix announced that the game’s developer Luminous Productions was being shut down and folded into their company. Luminous Productions announced its closure on X at the end of February 2023.
It wrote, “You may have heard the news that Luminous Productions is merging with Square Enix. Beginning May 1, our talented team will join Square Enix to deliver new, innovative gaming experiences to players across the globe.”
Luminous Productions on X
Back to Black Girl Gamers, the organization shared what it offers via consultancy, “Black Girl Gamers is uniquely placed in the gaming industry. The intersection of our team, community and experience allow us to offer a number of consulting services for clients within Gaming, FMCG and TV/Film industries. Our services range from aiding studios and developers in their game/character development, consulting on go-to-market strategies, DEI recruiting strategies, influencer marketing strategies and more.”
Black Girl Gamers describes their consultancy services
The company is run by Jay-Ann Lopez who described the organization to GameRant in April 2023, “I’m the founder and CEO of Black Girl Gamers, which is a community-powered organization that specializes in heightening black women’s voices and equity in the gaming space. We’ve been doing that since 2015, originally starting as a Facebook group. Since then, we’ve been instrumental in helping change the narrative regarding diversity inclusion, showing content creators how to work with brands, and kind of changing some of the dynamics in the industry.”
She added, “Initially, a lot of content creators didn’t know how to work with brands on a bigger scale, and so a lot of them have done that and gone out to their networks, and we’ve taught them essentially. The way we work is through events, consulting, community content, and talent brokering. We also have a niche agency internally to help broker black women for opportunities, sponsorships, campaigns, TV, etc.”
Jay-Ann Lopez via BuzzFeed UK YouTube
In the same interview she admitted how she would alter games while also expressing how she’s annoyed at white characters.
She was asked, “Were there any video games that made you wish that their character was a woman of color or a Black woman?”
Lopez responded, “I would flip the whole premise of a number of games, especially the ones that go into countries and get their relics. I would flip that on their head – that’s always been a dream of mine in general. But to be honest, no. I’m not averse to having White characters. I’m just annoyed at how prevalent they are.”
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft (2024), Aspyr, Crystal Dynamics
She would then claim she’s not interested in race replacing characters, but admitted “it works in some ways.”
Lopez said, “I wouldn’t want to change an existing character that I can think of at the moment. One of my favorite games, The Witcher 3, is predominantly based on a Polish novel. I have seen no need for me to change that main character. What I want is more stories that are authentic to Black, Brown, and Non-White people of color to be reflected in. I don’t want to necessarily have to ‘racebend’ an existing character for me. That’s not the epitome of representation. It works in some ways and other ways. I want some original content.”
A screenshot from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015), CD Projekt Red
Her animus against white characters in games also surfaced while discussing Apex Legends and Overwatch, “I see diverse, underrepresented characters in games like Apex, who have kind of covered a lot of bases. There are also games like Overwatch, which I had initially had a problem with – and they seem to be picking up their slack now – but still as a game that has a majority of White characters, I still don’t understand how you can call yourself a diverse game and have a majority of White characters. But a lot of them that do it right are games where you pick from a roster.”
She made it even more clear that she just wants to get rid of white characters when she was asked, “Has there been any video games that you’ve seen that have gone in the right direction in terms of diversity?”
Lopez said, “Apex is definitely one that’s done quite well. The intention is there, and the same with Overwatch.Overwatch didn’t have a Black female character for so long, and they had six White characters that were male, seven White characters that were female And I was like, “Where’s the Black women?” Out of the two, I would pick Apex because obviously, they represent me and that’s what I’m here for really and truly. Deathloop was also great and Ghost of Tshushima. I’m not Japanese, so I cannot speak to the cultural accuracy, but I really enjoyed that game. Again, Raji is another one as well.”
Jay-Ann Lopez via BuzzFeed UK YouTube
What do you make of Black Girl Gamers’ claim of harassment and its apparent hiring practices?
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So, asking for receipts is now harassment?🤦♂️
Everything is harassment when you profit from being the victim.
This is why equity policies are fundamentally racist. Just treat everyone the same and hire based on merit. It’s that simple.