Hispanic Heritage Month & the ESA Foundation
During a month dedicated to Hispanic/Latinx contributions and culture, we celebrate up-and-coming influencers in the video game industry.
At almost 19 percent of the U.S. population, Hispanics and Latinx comprise the biggest ethnic group in the country. But they’ve been a presence in North America since long before the United States was established. And their origins—ranging from Spain to Mexico to Brazil—enrich our professional and cultural landscapes in ways too numerous to count.
While the month is coming to a close, we continue to celebrate this rich history and contributions of Hispanic/Latinx people in the United States by focusing, specifically, on their participation in the video game industry. Since 2007, through its scholarship fund, the Foundation has worked hard to nurture the skills and talents of Hispanic/Latinx young people aspiring to careers in the industry, many of whom seek to share their backgrounds in the games they create. In recognizing their efforts, we’re including in this newsletter the thoughts and dreams of a few of the Foundation’s nine Hispanic/Latinx 2021-22 collegiate scholars.
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Freshman, Neumont College of
Computer Science
Game Development
“My heritage is something I take into consideration when creating. I lived along the border between Mexico and Texas, and not long ago, I went back to Juarez and saw how my family’s hard work paid off. I push myself to share my heritage through games. Designs, stories and characters allow me to share my culture and things many within our community experience. I will always represent my heritage while showing that all I had to do was ponerme las pilas.”
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Junior, New York University
Game Design
“While attending NYU’s Game Center, I’m surrounded by so many talented game developers of diverse backgrounds. Not only am I able to talk with people from all over the world, I have grown to appreciate my own culture more as a Latinx person. Therefore, when making games myself, I am adamant about creating spaces for people of different backgrounds. Latinx spaces are very limited in game development, and I want to make sure that I help expand it.”
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Freshman, University of California—Santa Cruz
Computer Science
"My Hispanic/Filipino heritage has influenced not only the types of games I play but how I work on them. When working on a project with friends, I try not to set a rigid structure, instead taking a more communal approach to making important decisions and orienting team direction. I believe that my approach to game development stems back to how I was raised and taught to work with others, especially in my family."
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The Hispanic/Latinx population in the U.S. is 62.1 million, or 18.7%, of the entire population.
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9 percent of all video game players are Hispanic/Latinx.
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23 percent of teen and young adult competitive gamers are Hispanic/Latinx.
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In 2020, during the COVID pandemic, 31% of all Hispanics/Latinx increased their time spent playing video games.
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Among industry employees focused on making games, 9 percent are Hispanic/Latinx.
As game playing among the Hispanic/Latinx population increases, the ESA Foundation is working to help increase the diversity in the industry’s workforce.
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Andrew Hoyt
ESA Foundation Hispanic/Latinx scholar, 2018-20
B.S. Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020
Current job: Associate Software Engineer, Treyarch
“I knew what I wanted to do with my life when I stumbled upon game development at age 10. Later, I wanted to be a Game AI specialist, in particular, and tailored my portfolio and job applications to fit that. At Treyarch, I work on challenging and fun Game AI features and bugs as a gameplay programmer. I am trusted with a great deal of responsibility within the Call of Duty Zombies team and am given opportunities to lead the development of multiple AI from pre-production to ship. I lead meetings, collaborate closely with artists, sound and design and am responsible for bringing it all together. I also help turn an idea, something on a design doc, into something that literally gets put in front of millions. That has been my dream from the beginning, and I am very grateful to the ESA Foundation for helping it in coming true.”
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Donate Today
How You Can Help Hispanic/Latinx and other underrepresented students
Even as, year by year, the numbers of minority and women video game players increase, the percentages of those populations working in the industry remains relatively stagnant. The ESA Foundation’s scholarship fund enables underrepresented college students to pursue video game and other STEAM-related degrees, paving the way for bright, creative, hard-working young people to enter and diversify the industry. As we prepare to announce the call for applications for the 2022-23 school year, please help to ensure we can continue to offer scholarships. To inquire about making a donation, contact us at ESAFInfo@TheESA.com or donate online here.
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Internships
Preparing to transition from studies to a job in the industry isn’t easy, especially for underrepresented students. Please help the ESA Foundation’s eager and talented scholars by offering them job- and life-skill-prepping internships.
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Get Social With Us
Check out #ScholarSpotlight on our Facebook and Twitter pages to see, hear and read our scholars’ stories and hit “like” or retweet.
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