Steel Media stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in condemnation of the killing of George Floyd, and against widespread systemic racism. We also stand alongside the BAME community in the games industry and beyond who have endured and continue to suffer from prejudice, discrimination and brutality.
This has been an eventful and emotional week, during which we took time to listen to the voices of campaigners in the US and around the world, follow the news on social media, and consider what we as a specialised media and events company could genuinely do to support or help.
A lot of support is being offered throughout the games industry at this time, and earlier in the week our site PocketGamer.biz compiled a list of useful resources including links to organisations that are helping, those offering mentorship and assistance, and places to donate.
There is much more that can be done. We have always tried to be open, welcome and supportive to everyone in our industry whatever their race, religion, gender, faith or wherever they fit in the ecosystem from graduate indie dev to CEO of a listed company, and we will continue to do that. Steel Media is a comparatively small company but one that is steadfastly committed to celebrating and connecting the entire global games industry. We will therefore also commit to these actions that will hopefully make further small steps to support the BAME community:
1/ Continue to cover this issue prominently on our media and at our events, to provide campaigns with a voice on our sites, and let our readers know how they can help.
2/ Establish additional regular editorial content to celebrate BAME game developers. We will devote time at our editors’ meetings to raising this issue and appraising what has been done.
3/ Ensure our conferences continue to welcome a diverse cross-section of the population and industry including BAME voices and actively encourage this through the creation of a diversity advisory board to provide input, suggestions and oversight on the content decisions we’re making about our events.
4/ Show our direct support for the Black Lives Matter movement with a donation to the organisation and related causes that campaign for BAME. This will be over and above the donations that our staff are already making.
5/ Celebrate work done in advocacy, diversity and inclusion by adding a category to our high-profile annual Mobile Games Awards that highlights these actions and roles.
We fully understand that these actions alone aren’t enough, but we believe they are steps in the right direction and we will work hard to learn and improve, to give a voice to the marginalised where we can, and to support those who are working to challenge racism and prejudice in our industry and the wider world.
The Steel Media team
