After more than a decade working in the gaming industry, Donald Harris saw a need for a community celebrating and promoting diversity within its ranks. That’s why he started ATX Game Makers in 2019 as a series of in-person meetups to introduce hobbyists, enthusiasts, and aspiring video game makers.
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The Daily Dot sat down with Harris during the nonprofit’s fourth South by Southwest annual showcase on March 9 to discuss how the group is leveraging the festival to forge connections for its members, how the pandemic impacted the gaming industry, and what progress in that arena looks like going forward.
Daily Dot: How did you get this idea?
Donald Harris: Me being a minority, I saw a need for more representation in the industry. And then once I started seeing the people who were joining my community, it became a lot more than just servicing minorities. It became thinking about things such as financial diversity. When I started doing these in-person events, I said, ‘Let me keep that in mind.’ I started doing coffee meetups, and I found sponsors and things like that. It naturally grew, because people are hungry for community, people are hungry for a home. I just kept it going, and now this is my fourth annual event of doing South By.
DD: What was the impetus for bringing it to South by Southwest?
Harris: I’ve been in the industry for about 18 years. My idea was that I could do this event since South By wasn’t really catering to games anymore after the pandemic. I’m like, ‘OK, how can I get these people the same exposure as someone who can go to GDC [Game Developers Conference] or who can go to these other big game conferences, who are stuck in Austin?’ I create situations where these folks can meet these industry vets at my event. I wanted to create connections. I’ve been able to get people jobs. I’ve been able to get people funding for their games, because I’m connecting them with publishers who are in town.
DD: So it’s mainly industry insiders or enthusiasts who make up the community?
Harris: The makeup of the community itself is enthusiasts, hobbyists, or people looking to get into the industry. People visiting the event—all different stripes. There’s this old new company called Acclaim [Entertainment] that just came back. One of their team members just came through. Last year, we had some folks from the Call of Duty team come through. And so there’s these big names that are coming through, and they’re seeing our community members. And our community members are able to show off their games and show off their experience and expertise and get hired.
DD: And this happened organically? As one thing was successful, it continued to grow?
Harris: As the monthly meetups started to grow and get bigger, we just had different ideas and wanted to show off games and show off people’s talents, and things of that nature. Where do we go to show off our games? That’s part of this event. And the other thing is our book of talent. Every year, I go through, and I say, everyone in the community make a page. And when you make up a page, I’m going to print this book. And as I go and travel and speak to hiring managers. ‘You don’t know how to hire a diverse person? I’ve built a diverse community.’ That’s the third annual version of that. That idea came from my girlfriend, Tiffany Ondracek.
DD: And how is it received by the industry?
Harris: Very surprising. They’re always surprised. ‘You have a book? What are you talking about?’
DD: Have you seen any change or progress in the industry?
Harris: Slow. I see it. My job is not over. My job is not done. The industry hit a huge downturn. A lot of terminations, a lot of layoffs. With that, the old guard that is left is kind of monochromatic. So I definitely want to help change that as we rehire and rebuild. We hired a bunch of people during the pandemic. After people started going back outside and stopped playing video games, they started laying off people. So I want to make sure that we’re hiring [people of a diverse background].
DD: In what ways do you think it will be beneficial to the industry if it does as you advocate?
Harris: I work on increasing the diversity in the games industry. The main thing I like about this is if I get different-looking people making games, I get different video games. That’s it. The other benefit to that is you’re able to sell to new audiences. You’re able to sell to people who look different, who still have money who want to buy games.
DD: It seems like there was a lull recently in the big game releases. Did the layoffs have something to do with that?
Harris: There were a ton of games canceled. With that, you have a bunch of indie folks in there trying to kick out games. If you look at Steam. Steam released 19,000 games in 2024. So those are all indies, double As, single As. A lot of them are mobile games and things like that. It’s a lull in the big ticket games.
DD: Does that give more space to the indie developers?
Harris: It does give space to the indie developers. The problem for the indie developers is sticking out. All these indie developers are still able to kick out games. Now they have to make more noise than the next indie developer. Because again, 19,000 games released on one platform.
DD: If the industry does ramp up like you hope, will there be more opportunities for different kinds of storytelling?
Harris: There should be. I really hope so. We’ve had a couple of recruiters come through, and I’ve made sure and highlighted people who I know are ready to get a job and are pretty exceptional in their skill. I’m hoping they get hired and they get up and change the industry. I hope it’s not just me as a different-looking person walking into a board room. I would like to walk into a board room full of people of different make up and backgrounds.
DD: If you’re giving advice to anyone else trying to affect change in their own industry?
Harris: I would say start small. Make sure you can manage it first. Having a community is way more work than I ever thought. Four years ago, when I was doing meetups in coffee shops and stuff like that, it was just me and 30 people. In my Discord, I have 1,500 people. It’s a lot of voices. And also, I’m a 501c3. When people are donating, that’s money that I’m financially responsible for. They want that money to help people, I need to make sure that money helps people. Number one, think about the end goal. And also just start very small. It will grow if you keep your community open. And just make sure that it’s a welcoming place. It will grow on its own.
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