Black History in Video Games: A Brief Timeline


happy black history month


Even though Black people have been and remain underrepresented in the gaming industry, pioneering black engineers and game designers like Jerry Lawson played important roles in the growing video game industry. 

As we celebrate Black History month 2024, here's several key moments in Black video game history.

1976 - Gerald "Gerry" Lawson - Inventor of the Video Game Cartridge

jerry lawson


The video gaming industry is worth over $180 billion. And if you have ever played one in your lifetime, you may not be aware of the debt you owe to a genius named Jerry Lawson.

Although Gerald "Jerry" Lawson, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 70, isn't well-known. He was a pioneer in the gaming industry and one of the few Black engineers employed in the tech industry in the 70s. Lawson led an engineer team that created and released the first removable video game cartridges in 1976.


1976 - The first Black Video game character


the first black video game character


The arcade boxing game Heavyweight Champ developed and published by SEGA in 1976, was the first video game to feature a Black character. 


1977 - Ed Smith - Co-designed a hybrid video game console and personal computer

Ed Smith is a retired engineer and one of his first projects was co-designing a hybrid video game console and personal computer, The MP1000, an early cartridge based video game system, and it's plug in computer expansion module, the Imagination Machine. 

1980s - Alice Washington - Atari’s Coin-Op Division’s Wonderwoman

Some of the most unsung pioneers in the early gaming industry were those in manufacturing roles. And Alice “Wonderwoman” Washington was among the many anonymous Black workers who installed PCBs into Atari's Coin Operated arcade machines.


1980s - Dr. Gladys Mae West - The “Hidden Figure” of GPS

Despite not being an game designer or engineer, Dr. Gladys Mae West's contribution and development of global positioning systems (GPS) has had a long-lasting effect on the modern gaming industry,  helping to create location-based games that depend on GPS.


1986 - Muriel Tramis - First Black female game designer

Joining the French game studio Coktel Vision  in 1986, French game designer Muriel Tramis is considered to be the world’s first Black female game designer. Her first game Méwilo explored social and political themes revolving around imperialism and slavery. 

1987 - Mike Tyson's Punch Out

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Mike Tyson collaborated with Nintendo to became the face of Nintendo's boxing game in 1987, getting paid around 50.000 for his likeness and name. In the game Mike Tyson was the final opponent and a tough one at that.  

1987 - The first Black video game Protagonist


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One of the first Black video game protagonists is Michael F. Stoppe from Maniac Mansion. A 1987 graphic adventure, where the player uses a point-and-click interface to guide characters and solve puzzles.

1987 - The first black female video game character

                      the first black female video game character

The first black female video game character appeared in Capcom's 1987 beat em up title Avengers, no relation to Marvel. She was one of the 6 kidnapped damsels in distress that needed to be saved by the main character.

1988 - Michael approaches Sega

Michael Jackson approached Sega in 1988 about creating a video game that would perfectly embody his image. Sega and MJ then began working on an arcade video game based on Jackson's Moonwalker movie and "Smooth Criminal" music video released that year.

1990 - Michael Jackson's video game



Michael Jackson

Sega released Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, a beat em up based on Michael Jackson's movie. The plot involved Michael Jackson using magical abilities and dance moves to save kidnapped children from a criminal known as Mr. Big.

1990s -Troy Barnes 

A promising homebrew developer as a child during the 80s, Barnes’ accolades in the 1990s include a number of intriguing titles (he worked as an Assistant Producer on Motley Crüe’s Sega Genesis pinball game, for example).

Barnes’ largest endeavor  to gaming was his work as a producer and designer for the Strike series, a series of isometric mission-based and vehicle-based military shooters whose entries included Jungle Strike (1993), Urban Strike (1994), and Nuclear Strike (1999), among others.

1990s - Stan Thomas joins Sega 

Stan Thomas served as the President of the Sega Channel in the early 1990s. Prior to this role, he was Senior Vice President of Time Warner Entertainment. A photograph dated September 5, 1994, shows him as the Sega Channel president, indicating he held the position at least by that time. 

1993 - Freedom! video game

Freedom! is a 1993 educational computer game developed and published by the MECC. The player plays as a runaway enslaved person in the antebellum period of American history who is trying to reach the North through the Underground Railroad.

The game was developed with help of an Black American consultant who guided MECC on appropriate graphics and dialect that represented the era. It is recognized as one of the first video games dealing with the topic of slavery


1993 - Michael Jackson and Sonic 3

Development on Sonic 3 started in 1993. During that year Michael Jackson had a meeting with members of the Sega Technical Institute. Which granted him the opportunity to allegedly compose the soundtrack to Sonic 3.

But when it was all said and done, it seems his work wasn’t dropped, just left uncredited due to controversy. 

1993 – Jammit Launches

One of the first street-style basketball games, Jammit featured gritty urban aesthetics and trash-talking characters, reflecting urban Black culture in gaming.


1994 - Biggie Smalls raps about SNES and Sega Genesis

In the 1994 hit Juicy, The Notorious B.I.G raps about how riches has changed his life and drops the illest videogame lyrics in hip hop history. 

"Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis," he raps. "When I was dead broke, man, I couldn't picture this."

1994 - Shaquille O' Neal Electronic Arts Deal

facts about video games


After NBA legend Shaq signed with the video game publisher Electronic Arts, the EA staff decided to put him in a fighting game because of O'Neal's interest in martial arts.

The result was Shaq Fu, a nonsensical fighting game starring Shaquille O' Neal. It's also worth noting that this was the first fighting game to include a Black female fighting character.


1994 - Motown enters the video game business


black video game developers


Motown created their own short lived video game publisher company called Motown Software (and Motown Games), which was a spin-off from the Motown record label.

During their 1994-96 run, they were responsible for publishing Black American focused video games. They released two games. Rap Jam: Volume One, a basketball game featuring legendary rappers and Bebe Kids, which was based on an animated comedy film.

1996 -  Ryan Hart

Ryan Hart, a professional fighting game player from London, won the UK National King of Fighters Championship in 1996, his first competition, and the rest was history.

Across the next nearly three decades, Hart has dominated in King of Fighters, Street Fighter and Tekken. He has multiple EVO and World titles, holds 4 Guinness World Records, and has won over 450 tournaments to date – a paragon of esports.

1996 - PaRappa the Rapper

                                  hip hop history

A groundbreaking rhythm game that introduced players to the world of hip-hop through its unique art style, music, and colorful cast characters. Voiced by Dred Foxx, PaRappa became a hit, blending hip-hop culture with gaming.

1997 - Tekken 3's Eddy Gordo 


Tekken 3 saw the debut of the Brazilian Capoeira fighter Eddy Gordo, a character who many feel helped popularized the Capoeira to  a wider audience. Mestre Marcelo Pereira, a Brazilian capoeira master, was the motion capture artist for this character.


1997 - First Black character in a JRPG 


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Final Fantasy VII was the first JRPG  to feature a prominent Black protagonist in 1997 when they introduced Barret Wallace, a loud mouthed and hot headed eco-terrorist who resembled MR T.

1999 - Wu-Tang create their own video game


The rap supergroup was on top of the world at one point, and during their rise to stardom they ended up creating their own fighting game called Wu-Tang Shaolin Style. 

1999 - First Black Female protagonist in a video game


                                     black video game characters

Released in 1999, Urban Chaos Starred D'arci Stern. A rookie cop on a one woman mission to clean up the means streets of Union City. She was the first Black female lead to appear in a video game.

2000 - EA Sports BIG 

EA Sports BIG was introduced in 2000, a gaming division that released several iconic games in the early 2000s including NBA Street and Def Jam Vendetta, which combined the spirit of  sport games with a unique, exaggerated urban style.

2003 – Def Jam Vendetta Bridges Hip-Hop and Gaming

                                  hiphopheads 

In 2003, EA Sports BIG released Def Jam Vendetta, a wrestling game featuring prominent hip-hop artists like DMX, Ludacris, and Method Man. This title uniquely blended rap culture with gaming, offering players a chance to engage with their favorite artists in a virtual combat setting.

2003 - Reggie Fils-Aimé joins Nintendo of America

Reggie Fils-Aimé, a prominent figure of Haitian descent, joins Nintendo of America as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He later becomes the face of Nintendo in North America and President of Nintendo of America in 2006, significantly influencing the company's image and marketing strategies.

Known for his charisma and iconic catchphrases like "My body is ready," Reggie’s leadership helped Nintendo secure a strong foothold in the gaming market during the Wii and Nintendo DS eras.

2003 - 
DJ Pooh joins Rockstar Games

DJ Pooh, a renowned hip-hop producer and writer, becomes part of Rockstar Games, contributing significantly to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

He helps shape the game's narrative, dialogue, and soundtrack, incorporating elements of West Coast hip-hop culture. His work on the game solidified San Andreas as one of the most culturally impactful titles in the Grand Theft Auto series.



2004 - GTA San Andreas


breakout video game


Grand Theft Auto San Andreas was released, a gangster video game which captured the authncity of West Coast gang culture in the early 90s, from the perspective of a young man named Carl Johnson.

This game also featured Samuel L. Jackson, who voiced the main antagonist Officer Tenpenny with an outstanding performance. 

2004 - Samuel L. Jackson voices Officer Tenpenny in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)

In GTA: San Andreas, Samuel L. Jackson brought his iconic voice to the character of Officer Tenpenny, a corrupt cop manipulating the protagonist, CJ. His performance added depth to the character, further amplifying the game's exploration of systemic racism and corruption.

Jackson's involvement was a major milestone, cementing the game's cultural significance and its connection to Black representation in gaming.

2004 - Def Jam Fight for NY

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2005 – NBA 2K6

NBA 2K6
released, marking the first installment published by 2K Sports, featuring Shaquille O'Neal on the cover and introducing the series to PlayStation 3 and Xbox.

2006 – Saints Row Series Debuts

Volition’s Saints Row introduced a street gang-themed open-world game that drew from urban Black culture. It was notable for allowing players to create Black characters with extensive customization.


2009 - Black College Football: The Xperience Released

Black College Football: The Xperience is a sports video game that celebrates historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). It features authentic marching bands, cheerleaders, and the culture of Black college football, bringing a unique and culturally significant experience to sports gaming.

2009 - Final Fantasy XIII Introduces Sazh Katzroy

                            

Sazh Katzroy, the third Black protagonist in the Final Fantasy series, stands out with his unique backstory as a devoted father. His mix of humor and emotional depth made him a memorable and important character in the Final Fantasy franchise.

2010 - Pokémon Black and White

Pokémon Black and White introduced the Unova Region, inspired by New York City, and featured some of the most diverse character designs in the Pokémon series. Notable characters included Lenora, Iris, and Marshall, marking a significant moment in the franchise’s representation of Black and diverse characters.


2012 - Aveline de Grandpré in Assassin's Creed III: Liberation

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Aveline de Grandpré becomes the first Black female protagonist in the Assassin's Creed series, starring in Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation. The game, originally released for the PS Vita, is later ported to other platforms. Aveline is a courageous, revolutionary character of mixed heritage who navigates both the social and political challenges of 18th century New Orleans.

2012 - Telltale's The Walking Dead features Lee Everett
In Telltale’s The Walking Dead, Lee Everett becomes one of the most beloved Black protagonists in video games. His journey through the zombie apocalypse, protecting young Clementine, is filled with emotional depth and showcases the complexity of a Black lead character in a dramatic narrative.

2012 - Aisha Tyler Joins Ubisoft 

Aisha Tyler became the host for Ubisoft’s major E3 presentations from 2012 to 2016. She was one of the most prominent Black women in gaming hosting major live events. While Aisha Tyler wasn’t hired specifically as a game developer, she was a trailblazer for Black women in front of the camera in gaming media.

2013 - Grand Theft Auto V introduces Franklin Clinton


Grand Theft Auto V
(2013) brought Franklin Clinton, the third Black protagonist in the franchise, into the spotlight. Franklin's storyline delves into themes of upward mobility and the struggles faced by those from marginalized communities, bringing a fresh perspective to the GTA franchise.

His character received praise for offering depth and relatability while tackling socio-economic issues through his ambitions to escape the streets of Los Santos.

2016 - Mafia 3 

Mafia 3 introduced Lincoln Clay, a Blackish protagonist seeking vengeance in 1960s New Orleans. The game stood out for its portrayal of a strong, complex Blackish lead and explored themes of race, revenge, and betrayal, marking a significant moment for representation in gaming.

2016 Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan

Aurion is a significant game in the history of Black representation in gaming. It was developed by Kiro'o Games, a studio based in Cameroon, and it’s one of the first high-profile African-made video games to receive international attention.

The game, a 2D action RPG, features an African-inspired fantasy world with rich, cultural references and a storyline that centers on the heroic journey of an African prince and his wife. The art style and character designs reflect the diversity and beauty of African cultures, marking a significant milestone for African representation in video games.


2017 - Fortnite 

Since its release in 2017, Fortnite has been at the forefront of showcasing exquisite Black character designs. The game featured a wide range of diverse, stylish, and culturally resonant Black Fortnite skins, making strides in representation within the gaming world.

2018 - Spiderman Miles Morales video game introduction

Miles Morales, a groundbreaking Afro–Puerto Rican Spider-Man, receives his own game, Spider-Man: Miles Morales in 2020, but his inclusion as a playable character first appears in Marvel's Spider-Man (2018) as part of the game's storyline. His role in this game helped to pave the way for his solo venture, showcasing a new, diverse face of Spider-Man.

2020 - Spider-Man: Miles Morales introduces Miles Morales as a solo protagonist

Following his appearance in Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018), Miles Morales finally takes center stage in Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020), solidifying his importance in the world of Black gaming protagonists. The game celebrates his Afro-Puerto Rican heritage. His story is deeply personal, featuring an emotional journey of heroism and identity.

2020 - Travis Scott's "Astronomical" Concert in Fortnite (2020)

In 2020, Travis Scott made history as the first rapper to have a major in-game concert event in Fortnite. The "Astronomical" event was a virtual concert that drew millions of players to the game, blending music and interactive elements in an unprecedented way. The event showcased Black artists in the digital gaming space, emphasizing the cultural influence of hip-hop and the importance of Black representation in gaming.

2021 - Deathloop 

In Deathloop, players control Colt Vahn, a Black protagonist trapped in a time loop. His journey of breaking free from the loop combines sci-fi elements with the complexities of his character, further solidifying the trend of Black protagonists in modern gaming.

2022 - "Saints Row" features first Black female protagonist

                                      

In the 2022 reboot of Saints Row, the main protagonist is a Black woman named The Boss, who can be customized by the player. This move brought a fresh perspective to the open-world franchise, embracing both diverse representation and player freedom. The game also focuses on a more inclusive portrayal of race, gender, and identity, breaking away from the stereotypical character designs seen in previous entries.

2023 - Sarah Bond Becomes President of Xbox

In October 2023, Sarah Bond made history as the first Black woman to be appointed President of Xbox. Bond, who had been with Microsoft since 2017, previously served as Corporate Vice President of Game Creator Experience and Ecosystem. In her new role, she oversees Xbox's operations, including hardware, platform engineering, business development, and partnerships, marking a significant milestone in gaming industry leadership and diversity.

2023 - Street Fighter 6 Introduces Kimberly

                               


Street Fighter 6
introduced Kimberly, the first playable Black American female character in the series. As a new fighter with a unique and vibrant fighting style, Kimberly's addition marked a significant step toward greater representation of Black women in fighting games.

Her character's design and backstory, featuring a strong connection to urban culture, added a fresh dynamic to the iconic Street Fighter series.

2024 - NBA 2K24 

As the NBA 2K series continues to be a dominant force in the gaming world, NBA 2K24 enhances the visibility and empowerment of Black athletes. With lifelike recreations of Black athletes and an immersive storyline involving MyPlayer mode, the game reaffirms its commitment to representing Black culture in a meaningful and authentic way, solidifying the NBA 2K franchise as a cornerstone of Black gaming culture.


2025 – Assassin's Creed Shadows

                                

Assassin's Creed Shadows: Yasuke takes players to the 16th century, where they step into the shoes of Yasuke, a Black man from Africa who rose to prominence as a samurai in Japan. Based on the real-life historical figure, Yasuke's journey to samurai status under the powerful warlord Oda Nobunaga has been adapted into a thrilling Assassin's Creed experience.

The game explores the complexities of race, honor, and power in feudal Japan, offering an opportunity to see Black representation in a period setting rarely explored in mainstream gaming.

(Feel free to add any contributions to this list that you feel is missing. This list will be updated from time to time so feel free to circle back).

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