The Rise of Black Women in Video Games: A Long-Awaited Progress

The AAA gaming industry has seen a surge in representation of Black women, with Forspoken being one of the few games to feature a Black female protagonist in recent years. Despite the positive reception of Alfre 'Frey' Holland, the game's heroine, there is still a need for games publishers to invest in Black-led characters, particularly Black women. The slow growth in developing Black-led characters may lead to the fragmentation of Black consumers in the gaming industry. While Black female characters exist in games, they are often relegated to supporting roles, such as Angrboda in God of War: Ragnarok and Sojourn in Overwatch 2. These characters are utilized differently, and the player does not experience the game through the lens of a Black female protagonist. The shooting game genre, for example, has ample opportunities for Black women to take the lead, but they are underrepresented. Women are represented in action-centric games, such as Kait Diaz from Gears of War 5 and Dani Rojas from Far Cry 6, but Black women are scarce. Black female leads are not entirely new to video games, with examples dating back to 1999's Urban Chaos, but they rarely headline major AAA blockbusters. Indie titles, such as Dandara and Subnautica: Below Zero, have featured Black female leads, but these characters are not as prominent as those in AAA games. The NPD Group has published the Top 20 best-selling games in the US every year since 1995, and within this time frame, there has never been a Black-female-led video game listed. Black men are represented in recent years, but often in violent roles, such as Franklin Clinton from Grand Theft Auto V and Jameson Locke from Halo 5: Guardians. The Madden and NBA 2K franchises typically feature Black characters, but they are often relegated to sports roles. Forspoken's Black female protagonist is a notable exception, but the game's underwhelming release may not determine its overall financial performance. Games like No Man's Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 have improved over time, leading to new sales. Black-led games should have the same opportunities for representation and maturation as any other game, and if a character's identity is salient to the narrative, it should be informed by individuals who live and hold those identities. Square Enix deserves credit for positioning a Black woman to take the lead in introducing players to its fictional world of Athia, and incorporating Black characters should be an ideological position that says all walks of life belong in video games.