I had a great conversation the other day with a guy in Ontario who wants to use the arcade-style hockey game he's building to tackle issues around diversity in the game.
He has some innovative ideas but has become stuck halfway through development. Turns out that he's white, and doesn't yet have any diversity partners – which is holding him back from addressing the issue authentically in the game's design and narrative.
Digging deeper, I discovered that, until recently, he had only shared the story of his project within his small game development community. Nobody else outside that group has heard of his project – including all the people working in equity and diversity in sport – and all the huge sponsors who are scrambling to throw money at this issue right now.
So, instead of being able to tap into what should be a red-hot market for him, he's having to start from scratch to spread the word about his game, seed relationships, build trust, find synergies and seek support.
