Representation at Pixelberry
Black Lives Matter
We live in extraordinary times. It’s amazing to see people of different generations, colors, and backgrounds fighting for racial justice in a time of pandemic and protesting together. Pixelberry unequivocally supports the racial justice and end to systemic racism that Black Lives Matter demands.
The actions of those on the street as well as the voices and posts of our players are making a difference at Pixelberry. We hear you.
Complacency
When we first launched Choices, we paid special attention to include racial diversity and identity diversity in our game. We didn’t always get it right, but we tried to do what other game companies were ignoring at the time - have our game be a place where players could feel represented.
However, I’m embarrassed to say, we became complacent. In particular, I, Pixelberry’s leader, became complacent. Because we started off well, I assumed we were continuing to do well with representation in Choices. Then, as more competition entered the space, sometimes directly copying us, I and others on the team became more focused on ensuring we were making enough money to support our team and avoid the layoffs we’d experienced at other companies. We made a conscious choice to rely more on data, and let player behavior drive our content. But what we failed to account for is that in relying on data derived from a biased society, we in turn ended up reinforcing and recreating society's biases, instead of pushing against them.
Our Problem
We failed to represent Black, Latinx, and other cultures fairly in our story. The three biggest failures being 1) equal focus on Love Interests of different ethnicities, 2) black and brown hairstyles that effectively and proudly represent our players, and 3) not enough diversity of book covers.
Like you, different people within Pixelberry had expressed concern about the above issues in the past, but their concerns were not acted upon. The voices in the streets and your voices, the voices of our players, were a swift kick that is resulting in change.
My Apology
I want to personally apologize for being complacent and losing focus on important issues. I also want to apologize on behalf of the studio for not doing what was just and right in regards to this and other issues.
Going Forward
Some of you have expressed concern about why we’ve been silent since our statement. We knew you wanted to hear from us. But we thought it would be better to wait to share a concrete plan so that you know we are about more than just words. We believe words are powerful, but for important matters like this, they need to be followed by action.
This plan was important enough that I spent most of my time these past two weeks working on it alongside many other people in the studio, most importantly with employees of color at Pixelberry who understand and live through these issues every day. They worked on this plan in addition to their normal responsibilities and during a crazy, emotional time, because they believe in what Pixelberry stands for and wanted to make sure that was reflected in Choices.
Our team has heard you loud and clear and we are changing directly because of you.
Pixelberry’s Representation Plan
Changes in Choices
Commitment to diversity of Love Interests.
We’ve already been moving towards having Love Interests have customizable skin tones. We will continue to do this with some stories, while also having some characters with clear ethnic identities.
At the same time when we have multiple love interests of different ethnicities, we are aiming for those Love Interests to have equal game time.
More authentic and diverse hairstyles for people of color
Our team will focus on providing more authentic and representative hairstyles.
We are prioritizing these hairstyles outside of our normal book processes and will introduce them in new books as they are ready.
Stronger representative writing
We will be engaging in professional training on historical and current racism for our writers to ensure more of them have a better understanding and more context for views of diverse characters in Choices.
We will also create a program that gives more authority to people of color in the studio to advise writers and artists on more authentic portrayals in both writing and art of black, brown, and minority characters.
More diverse book covers
This is an initiative we started in January of this year. As a result the number of Black, Latinx, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, mixed, and other characters on new book covers increased from 35% of characters in 2019 to 60% characters in the first half of 2020.
However, the number of black characters is still not high enough this year. More are already scheduled for books later this year. We will make sure that Black characters are well represented on our covers in the future.
People of color-led stories
A story with a Black-led cast is something I have asked for in the past, but failed to follow-up on. We will very likely start this with a Black-led cast story led by Chelsa, one of Pixelberry's Black writers.
Emphasis on hiring more diverse writers
We will increase the number of diverse writers we source for new stories, starting with hiring more Black and Latinx writers to lead the charge.
Changes at Pixelberry
Source more Black, Latinx, and female candidates for positions at Pixelberry
For all teams at Pixelberry we will actively work to bring in more Black and Latinx candidates with the goal to increase the number of Black and Latinx employees at Pixelberry.
Although Pixelberry is over 50% female, on teams where females are not at 50% we will actively work to source more female candidates.
Of the Highest Importance
We are moving forward on all these items immediately. While some changes will be more noticeable before the end of the summer, other changes may not manifest until the end of the year or beyond.
One thing I love about Pixelberry is that we are filled with passionate people who care about you, our players. Some were already pushing for these changes, others are newer to some of these ideas. Together, we will make this plan successful.
Sustainable Action
I hope you see that these changes to have better representation at Pixelberry were made with the intention to be meaningful, sustainable, and transformational. These are not short term changes, but changes that will transform Pixelberry to be better for the long term.
Donations
Pixelberry will also be making $100,000 in donations to Black Girls Code, the Black Writers Collective, and the Latinx Writers Collective at Techqueria. Rather than as a lump sum, we will be making these donations over the course of a year to remind us that we are not making short term changes, but are committed to long term sustainable actions.
We’ll also be donating up to an additional $100k from profits for this week, 6/15-6/21.
Our Commitment
Again, I apologize for being complacent and not recognizing the need for these changes until now. Because I was complacent, I will be personally and directly responsible for making sure these changes occur. Along with creating a studio that survives through creating great games, having better representation at Pixelberry will be my highest priority.
Thank you for using your voices to make us better. We’ve heard you, we’ve been kicked into action, and we will make Choices a game that represents all of you justly.
With personal embarrassment, but pride in our players,
Oliver
On behalf of Pixelberry Studios