Talk Is Cheap: Video Game Companies Take a Stand Against Racism, But What Are They Really Doing?

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Black Lives Matter protests erupted all over the world. And a number of companies rushed to offer their sympathies for Floyd’s family and for the BLM movement in general.

These included statements from major companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo as well as famous publishers such as Blizzard, Activision, and Bethesda. And to their credit, these companies did a good job citing specifics about Floyd and specifics about dangerous systemic racism within our culture.

They were a lot less specific, though, about what they planned to do about racism within gaming communities. And this has many wondering if talk is cheap for all these big names when it comes to actually taking action.

Video game companies release statements on George Floyd

As we said, companies were very specific in their official statements on the death of George Floyd. Nintendo assures players “we reject bias, exclusion, oppression, and the violence that leads to these completely unnecessary deaths.” Sony says “we denounce systemic racism and violence against the Black community.” And Microsoft and Xbox assure “fans, creators, colleagues, friends, and the entire African American & Black Community” that they stand “against systemic racism and injustice.”

It doesn’t take too long to see the cracks in this, though. Microsoft may abhor “systemic racism,” but how many streamers on their now-dead Mixer platform received bigoted comments? Sony hates “violence against the Black community,” but black players constantly receive violent racial threats while playing online games.

Of the “Big Three,” Nintendo has arguably done the best job of protecting players from racist abuse. However, that’s arguably a side effect of Nintendo making it so damn difficult to connect with other players, much less to speak to them.

This highlights the big question: is it even possible for a company to both create an online community and root out the racism? Or is racism basically inevitable when you get enough people together in a digital room?

Rampant online harassment

Most players don’t have to go out of their way to encounter racism online. In many cases, it’s a consequence of using the mic and talking to your team in any given competitive game.

Black players often receive verbal abuse from these relatively anonymous teammates. It is similar to the experience of many female gamers who encounter violent misogyny if they talk with their team.

On one hand, this bigotry is a sad “par for the course” when it comes to any online interactions. After all, users on social media often encounter racist and misogynistic abuse from virtual strangers. However, social media platforms do a better job of banning harassers, in part because there is usually a record of these online interactions.

What can you do if someone calls you slurs on Xbox Live? There is usually no proof of who said what, and you’re unlikely to see any real justice from reporting the incident to Microsoft.