Netflix Games to support four new studios through Black Voices in Gaming nonprofit

As announced by Black Voices In Gaming, Netflix Games will be funding four new studios through the three-month XPerience Excellence Accelerator.

Each of the studios will be awarded approximately £16,000 ($20,000) to support the development of a mobile title with monetary endorsement, industry education and networking opportunities. In doing so, the teams increase their technical knowledges over a short stretch of time, and simultaneously, reduce the likelihood of risks that might sink their creative enterprise.

Black Voices In Gaming’s accelerator determines the list of possible recipients of its support based on “game concept and pitch, team game development experience, and team use of funding and curriculum”. It also assures those applying that neither Netflix Games or the nonprofit transfers ownership of their IP to themselves should they be successful.

The four studios selected are Gesinimo Games, Oshoma Games, SpaceSalad Studios and Weathered Sweater. Though Black Voices in Gaming is based in Oakland, California, the developers hail from the United Kingdom, Nigeria, South Africa and the United States, respectively.

At the end of the XPerience Excellence Accelerator program, the studios will possess a prototype that is ready to be pitched to potential investors, publishers and partners.

“Since Black Voices In Gaming’s inception, our team has been continually pursuing new programs and partnerships to help raise visibility and opportunities for developers in the Black community,” said co-founder and CEO Justin Woodward in a press release.

Woodward works with the other founders, CTO Alfonso Hooker and CBO David Lindsey, to offer decades of technical expertise in the industry to their collaborators. The list of instructors includes Tony Barnes, Derrick Fields, James Lewis, and Woodward.

“The evolution of Netflix in the gaming space and dedication to innovate in the industry is fresh and opens up opportunities to serve new audiences on a familiar platform which is exciting,” continued the CEO. It is great to be able to collaborate on this program with the cohort of talented developers in the Black Voices In Gaming community.”

In other gaming news, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 shared that it will let players slow down the action by differing degrees as part of its slew of new and improved accessibility settings.