Men have long dominated the $150 billion gaming industry, making up 61% of the workforce. However, a group of women and nonbinary developers in Oakland, California, are working to change that.
“I’m going to do the thing I really want to do — and that’s video games,” said Marisa Diaz, artist and director of the video game “Camino.” “It’s as simple as that.”
Diaz and her team, Bruja Bros, comprised primarily of women of color and gender non-conforming developers, launched the mobile game “Camino” on the Google Play Store last year. The game follows a Cuban villager on a quest to reunite with their family while battling colonizers in the 1500s. Yoruba deities offer players power and guidance, a concept rooted in Diaz’s culture.
“I’m the only Afro-Cuban here,” Diaz said. “So it took a lot of teaching the team who doesn’t come from that culture.”
The group credits their success to a local tech training program called Gameheads. Founded in 2015, Gameheads has helped launch over 100 games developed by diverse young adults from low-income backgrounds and prepared them for careers tech and gaming.
Gameheads program manager Randi Dean said her goal was for 40% program participants to be femme or queer, and now it’s at 50%. “It almost makes me want to cry,” she said.
Watch the video above for how Gameheads and the Bruja Bros are leaving their mark on the gaming industry.
