The video games industry has done a commendable job of tackling diversity, equity and inclusivity issues in recent years. While it still has a lot of work to do in addressing the male dominance seen across the workforce, the conversation about the need for diversity is louder than ever.
There are now multiple advocacy groups and initiatives designed to raise awareness of these issues and create opportunities for people from various underrepresented demographics, whether that's based on gender, race or something else. But there's another form of disparity that rarely gets the same level of attention: socioeconomic diversity.
Declan Cassidy is chief executive of Into Games, a non-profit organisation dedicated to creating new pathways towards games industry careers. He cites the most recent UKIE census, which shows that only 13% of professionals in the UK games sector are from working class backgrounds.
“If the industry was truly reflective of UK society this would be closer to 37%,” he says. “To put that in relation to other diversity areas, for complete parity with British society the sector would need to be made up of 5,756 women, 3,003 people of colour and further 6,008 people from working-class backgrounds.
“On those numbers, if socioeconomic status were a protected characteristic, it would be the biggest diversity issue we have as a sector. And yet there is no advocacy group, only a handful of very small bursary pots and maybe a talk or two at conferences every year. This is a huge problem that, much like socioeconomic status itself, is hidden and rarely talked about.”
Shahneila Saeed, programme director for UKIE's Digital Schoolhouse initiative, agrees that addressing socioeconomic diversity is crucial to the future of the industry. “The biggest gaps stem from the fact that a significant portion of the workforce comes from privileged backgrounds, with workers more likely to have grown up in households where the main income earner held a managerial or professional role.
“Additionally, many of them attended state-selective or fee-paying schools, reflecting broader socioeconomic disparities. To foster greater inclusivity and empower talent, the industry must focus on creating pathways for individuals from underrepresented socioeconomic backgrounds.”
As Saeed suggests, one key gap here is education. Current qualifications, such as the Computer Science GCSE, limit the access to the creative digital skills needed for the games industry, she says – and this disproportionately affects students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. UKIE has proposed the creation of a new Digital Creativity GCSE, which would combine arts, science and technology, but this is still a proposal as it stands today.
Liz Prince, business head of recruitment agency Amiqus and the driving force behind the G Into Gaming campaign to build more diverse and inclusive workplaces, adds that the issue can be most clearly seen at the top level.
“While we’ve made some progress in diversifying the games workforce, leadership roles are still predominantly held by men and many from more affluent backgrounds. This limits the perspectives and experiences that influence decision-making at the highest levels,” she says.
Other barriers she point to include access to opportunities, with aspiring developers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds facing steeper costs when it comes to education and training, and geographical inequality. For example, people from rural or economically disadvantaged areas are less likely to have access to opportunities to work in the games industry – especially if this involves working in a studio, as companies tend to be concentrated in specific clusters around the country (and mostly in the South East or London).
For all the challenges, though, Cassidy remains confident that addressing this imbalance will help the games industry with other DEI disparities as well.
“There is a real opportunity here. Socioeconomic status is a tide that can raise all boats,” he says. “Its intersectionality, especially in major cities, means that this is an issue that could support all other diversity challenges.”
He continues: “Visibility of the problem is the first issue. The sector is well aware of diversity challenges around gender and race, but social mobility is under the radar. We can help solve this by ensuring socioeconomic diversity is regularly on the agenda at major conferences and roundtables and by creating wider campaign messaging about the issue through trade bodies and industry facing media.
“This campaigning should lead to practical policy changes for studios, initially by simply tracking socioeconomic status of present staff and future hires using questions advocated by the Social Mobility Commission. These provide the basis for further work, internal discussion and changes to hiring practices, like paying for people's travel to interviews or providing relocation costs. If the internal audit has identified people in the studio who are from under-resourced backgrounds, ask them what they’d like to see implemented.”
Prince adds that closing the gaps will require efforts from multiple different stakeholders – not only the industry itself, but also educators and policymakers – suggesting several courses of action.
“Providing scholarships and financial aid for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds can help them access education and training in game development,” she says. “Companies should also adopt inclusive hiring practices that focus on skills and potential rather than just formal qualifications. This can help bring in talent from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
Establishing mentorship and internship programs specifically for underrepresented groups can provide valuable industry experience and networking opportunities. Into Games does great work in facilitating these opportunities.”
She goes on to say that the rise of remote working can also help individuals from lower socioeconomic areas apply for and hold down jobs without needing to relocate to more expensive parts of the country. And she reiterates that diversifying the leadership of games companies will also be crucial going forward.
“Promoting diversity in leadership roles can ensure that decision-making reflects a wider range of perspectives and experiences, which can help create a more inclusive industry culture alongside a supportive and inclusive work environment where all employees feel valued and heard.”
Cassidy agrees, encouraging companies with people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to spotlight those team members – with their permission, of course.
“Bring the conversation into the mainstream of your studio. The more it's talked about, the less it can hide in the shadows. Build internal systems for hiring that actively reduce barriers to entry, like offering to pay for travel for in-person interviews.”
Saeed emphasises that academia has a vital role to play in improving the socioeconomic diversity of the industry, and that games companies need to find more ways to highlight the potential career paths available to students of all ages.
“Children can’t aspire to careers they do not know exist,” she explains. “So the first role that we can play is by raising awareness of the opportunities that exist and the routes towards them. It is important to work with educators, ensuring they have accurate and up to date information about career pathways that they can pass onto their students.
“Additionally, low aspirations and a self-belief that 'this path does not apply to me' is one of the biggest issues for us to tackle. It is what stops students from ever exploring these career pathways to begin with, entering the video games industry is not something that many consider to be within their realm of possibility, it’s not even on their radar for consideration.”
Simply creating opportunities for folks from working class backgrounds is not enough – the industry needs to reach out directly to those people too. Cassidy encourages studios that have staff volunteering in schools or running internships and work experience programs to “strategically target areas of deprivation” or collaborate with organisations that already do. He adds that the industry also needs to help create equipment bursaries, mentorships and more paid work experience opportunities targeting further and higher education.
“The relatively recent Kickstart programme from the UK government in the wake of COVID showed that studios were willing to hire people from diverse backgrounds when the risk was reduced,” he says. “Like UKIE’s recent manifesto, advocating for government funding to help de-risk entry-level hires via a Skills Investment Fund, something like this but targeted at supporting under-resourced groups could go a long way to balancing the sector.
“The talent is there. We just need to give them support and opportunities to thrive.”
Saeed observes that, thanks to the availability of free game engines and other development tools – plus the abundance of free online tutorials and other learning resources – there are fewer limitations than ever on folks from lower socioeconomic barriers with dreams of becoming a game developer.
“The barriers to entry are lower than many other industries, which means that, with the right guidance and outreach, more individuals from underrepresented backgrounds can enter the field,” she says. “Initiatives like Digital Schoolhouse are instrumental in making these opportunities more accessible, particularly to schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. By providing workshops, esports tournaments, and professional development, the program helps to bridge the digital divide and empower new talent from all backgrounds, using gaming as a pathway for social mobility and ultimately drive growth.”
She concludes: “Socioeconomic diversity is perhaps not the most immediate and outwardly obvious aspect of a protected characteristic, and so may suffer from being overlooked in some cases. However, the industry is getting behind this, promoting alternative and accessible routes into the industry is something that many support.”
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