Black illustration in the online game industry has been low traditionally, with solely 4 % of respondents to the 2021 International Game Developers Association survey figuring out as Black, up from 2 % in 2005.
USC’s scholarship was created by Jim Huntley, professor and head of selling at USC Games — a joint program orchestrated by USC’s movie and engineering faculties — and Danny Bilson, a screenwriter, producer and online game author who’s the chair of USC’s Interactive Media and Games Division and director of USC Games.
The scholarship is at present being funded by Take-Two Interactive and Microsoft. USC’s estimated value for freshman dwelling on or off campus is about $86,000.
“We sat down after Floyd’s murder and asked, ‘What can we do in our neck of the woods?’ ” Huntley stated. “The games industry has always had an issue with Black and Indigenous representation, it’s been lagging for decades.”
Lower illustration persists in the gaming industry regardless of excessive ranges of curiosity inside the Black neighborhood. Black teenagers have been probably the most lively avid gamers in a 2015 Pew Research examine, with 83 % of respondents saying they performed video video games, in contrast to 71 % of Whites and 69 % of Hispanics.
USC’s program at present has 400 college students in the Games program, together with 100 in design and 300 in engineering. Currently, 12 % determine as Black and 1.5 % determine as Native American, in accordance to the University. Over 50 video games from all college students might be highlighted May 12 on the sixth annual USC Games Expo, which Huntley leads.
“Students of all races, creeds, and religions should get a chance to enter the games industry,” Huntley stated. “We are looking for diversity in applications.”
The recipients of the Lawson scholarship might be chosen in July.