A new bundle of games has been launched on Humble Bundle to celebrate Black History Month.
The bundle includes eight different games from Black creators or featuring Black characters, such as Mafia 3: Definitive Edition and Shadow Man Remastered.
Worth £108.75 in value, the bundle can be purchased for £8.09 or more, with money raised helping to support Gameheads – a tech training programme that assists low income youth.
“February is Black History Month, when people in the US and around the world look back and reflect on the struggles and hard-won achievements of Black people throughout history,” reads the accompanying post.
“To help mark the month in our own way, we’ve put together a bundle of great games by Black creators along with games featuring Black lead characters – with proceeds helping support the next generation of game dev and tech talent on their own learning journeys.”
The bundle is available globally, although Black History Month is celebrated in February in the US In the UK, it’s October.
“We’re not so naive as to think that a single game could cure racism – and that was never our intent. But at the end of the day, if we make people think about race and we make people think about what’s happening today, I think we’ve done something that very few games have done,” said Haden Blackman, creative director of Mafia 3.
“Michael LeRoi, the protagonist of both the Shadow Man game and the 1997 comic book series that inspired the game, was one of the first major protagonists of colour in video games,”said Travis Escarfullery, director of design and production at Valiant Entertainment. “For many Black gamers, he was their first playable hero that offered them representation in the medium.”
In addition to the bundle, Humble Bundle is supporting two other charities.
The first is NPower, which assists military veterans and young adults from underserved communities launch digital careers. The Humble community will have multiple opportunities to support this charity, through store purchases and Choice membership.
The second is the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which will be supported by a separate book bundle.
Lastly, Humble highlights in its Black History Month blog post that new projects will be incoming from the Black Game Developer Fund. This was a fund set up in the wake of George Floyd’s murder to help independent Black creators everywhere.
Said Humble: “Thanks to everyone across the Humble community who continues to help us support all of these great charities and organisations dedicated to justice and equity. While something as simple as picking up some games might seem inconsequential, your combined support quickly adds up to make a real impact for real people, real communities, and today’s most critical causes.”
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