For James Lewis, making the game industry diverse and inclusive is all about being intentional.

“One of the mantras [at Xbox’s Developer Acceleration Program] is that if you don't intentionally include, 你会无意中排除,他说.

James spent years intentionally connecting with Xbox colleagues who shared his values. 今天，詹姆斯是项目负责人 ID@Xbox的开发者加速计划, an initiative that helps underrepresented developers bring their games to Xbox. He knows that including unique perspectives on the platform will help draw in more diverse audiences – and that his team’s efforts can help reshape the game industry as a whole.

James’s path to the game industry was different than many of his colleagues. He had a bachelor's 学位 in theater and was pursuing a master’s in playwriting when he encountered 大雨，这款动作冒险游戏改变了他的职业生涯轨迹. He was fascinated by the game’s “making of” video and realized that he wanted to start working behind the scenes on video games. 詹姆斯放弃了他的剧本创作项目，报名参加了满帆的节目 游戏设计硕士 学位.

“I was very intimidated going in because I was the theater kid coming into a program where a lot of my classmates had a computer science background or more technical 学位s than myself,詹姆斯说. “But I just worked really hard and did my best and tried to take advantage of every opportunity that we had. And I ended up graduating at the top of my class and made a lot of great connections along the way.”

James’s commitment to his new passion helped him land a post-graduation job at Xbox Game Studios. Over the next decade, he worked in production, account management, and business development at Xbox. He also started connecting with underrepresented voices in the gaming community: He was a member of the Black in Gaming Foundation and a co-lead for the employee resource group Blacks at Xbox. By 2019, James had found a group of likeminded colleagues who wanted to bring new voices to the Xbox platform.

“There was a lot of awesome work that was happening [to bring diverse games to Xbox], 不是任何人的核心工作, but just because people were passionate about creating a more inclusive industry and creating more opportunities for developers,他说. “这是一种强烈的商业需求, because there is a need for us to reach more developers and create paths for more developers. 但我也一直觉得这么做是对的. I personally believe that this is going to make our industry a better place when we have more voices represented in game development.”

在接下来的几年里, James and his team worked behind the scenes at Xbox to develop a full-fledged, 针对不同游戏开发者的包容性计划. 詹姆斯公布了开发者加速计划 演讲 在2023年的游戏开发者大会上.  

The Developer Acceleration Program partners with developers who belong to communities that are underrepresented in the game industry. 这包括黑人, 拉丁美洲人, and Indigenous developers; disabled creators; women; LGBTQIA+ developers; developers whose games responsibly center stories around diverse characters; creators who prioritize accessibility; and more.

The new program gives these individuals practical tools that many other developers already have. This includes funding to help them release their games on multiple platforms, 协助制作原型, and access to subject matter experts through the program’s Green Room events.

(对于绿厅活动), 我们有Game Pass的会员, 我们请来了认证团队的成员. We also had members from our marketing team as well as our store team come in and talk about the game life cycle. And we had people come in and talk about accessibility best practices for games,詹姆斯说. 

The Developer Acceleration Program’s resources are already making a difference to new, 多样化的创作者:目前为止, 该项目已经与100家游戏公司合作，发行了大约30款游戏. 自从在游戏开发大会上公开宣布之后, James and his team have been fielding new requests from developers and working on new partnerships.

Making an intentional commitment to his personal values helped James make a difference in a role that he’s passionate about – and it’s a useful approach for incoming game industry professionals.  

“学生 who are on this path [to increasing diversity and inclusion in games] should know that they don't have to change who they are to fit into this industry; the industry needs to change in order to welcome more people... 我只希望人们不要像我那样花那么长时间去寻找自己的声音, 找到对你真正重要的东西，然后把它找出来. But I'm encouraged daily by seeing so many different teams who have these really important missions and things that they're trying to pursue, 使这个行业成为一个更具包容性的空间. So don't feel like you have to become something that you're not to fit into this industry. 帮助这个行业发展成为一个更具包容性的空间.”