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Xbox is inspiring Black youth to make games with Project Amplify

Cristina Alexander
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Xbox launched Project Amplify, a new program that will help support Black youth who want to work in the gaming industry.

Project Amplify is a video series where 14 Black employees within Xbox seek to educate Black youth on the diversity of roles within the gaming industry, offering them advice and insights into their current roles as well as sharing stories about their journey into the gaming industry. The teaser trailer below compilates snippets from all 14 videos from each employee, including program manager Q Muhaimin, senior business development manager James Lewis, software engineer Nayomi Mitchell, and head of development for Halo Infinite Pierre Hintze.

Project Amplify Teaser

An Xbox Wire post on Friday explained that Microsoft decided to introduce the initiative following a recent survey that found 95% of 200 students and alumni at Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the U.S. are interested in careers in the gaming industry. To break down those statistics further, 34% of them want jobs in program management, 24% want to go into engineering, and 18% want to do game development.

James Lewis, one of the employees featured in Project Amplify and co-lead of Black Communities at Xbox, said in a statement that he hopes Project Amplify will make a lasting impact on Black youth and encourage them to act on their gaming industry dreams as he did.

“In my early years, I was more focused on what not to do versus what I could be. It wasn’t until my adult years that I learned to leverage my passion for games into a career,” Lewis said. “I am now incredibly thankful to be celebrating 10+ years in my dream career, and I hope Project Amplify inspires people to dream and take action toward their own goals. As my coaches and mentors would say, ‘play to win instead of playing to not lose.'”

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