On the opening of the ninth London Games Festival, Games London is delighted to announce this year’s brand new Ensemble talent line-up.
A flagship feature of the London Games Festival (9 April – 25 April), Ensemble showcases Black, Asian and underrepresented ethnicities working in UK video games.
This year’s talent will be exhibited at various outdoor locations, commencing with an outdoor installation unveiled at Trafalgar Square from Saturday 13 April.
The Ensemble initiative champions game developers and creatives from a broad spectrum of roles and a wide variety of backgrounds. Curated by award-winning, bestselling author and artistic director Sharna Jackson, this year’s line-up includes experts in the fields of game production, writing, design talent management and marketing.
Ensemble relaunches at every London Games Festival with a new cohort – but each one spotlights and showcases inspiring stories in the workforce to promote diversity, advocate for new voices, and change perceptions.
Ensemble and London Games Festival are delivered by Games London, which is supported by the Mayor of London.
The eight creatives selected for 2024 are:
- Maja Bodenstein, writer and narrative designer: A trilingual film and TV writer of Chinese-German heritage and a gamer since childhood, Maja’s first foray into games writing was for Singer Studios’ The Pirate Queen: Night of Succession (2020), a short VR experience following the exploits of famed female pirate Cheng Shih. This version of the game (on which she is credited as writer and co-director) won The Discovery Award for Best Debut at Raindance Film Festival 2021. The success of this led to The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend, a VR adventure narrative game scheduled for release on Meta Quest 2 & PCVR, also by Singer Studios and starring and executive produced by Lucy Liu.
- Terrence Cua, talent specialist and manager; Having spent over 20 years as a developer, Terrence has since transitioned to talent acquisition, finding and hiring the best talent across the tech and games industry. He has been blessed to have hired people from all over the world for Warner Bros, Sony, Pokémon and more recently Sports Interactive and Sega.
- Jerreau Henry, marketing manager and DEI chair: Jerreau Henry is a dedicated advocate for DEI in the games industry. As the Marketing Manager for Electric Square and Lively Studio, Jerreau serves as the Chair for the collective studios’ DEI board, where he leads a community of 250+ members, actively creating opportunities for aspiring game developers. Jerreau’s passion has earned him nominations as an Into Games and Safe In Our World Ambassador. He is also the Community Manager for BAME in Games (BiG), a grassroots DEI organisation dedicated to celebrating and encouraging diverse aspiring talent and established figures in the games industry.
- Rafif Kalantan, co-founder and designer; Rafif is an emerging Arab narrative and game designer from Saudi Arabia, currently based in London. She earned her master’s degree in games design and development in 2023, where her final year project earned her a Student BAFTA for the games category. This win marked the first female director, the first non-European, the first Arab, and the first win for a British school in this category. Rafif co-founded a new initiative, GIGS (Gamedev Initiative for the Global South), that focuses on providing game development resources on one platform for the Global South but focuses on MENA/SWANA as a starting point.
- Venkatesh Krishna Murthy, entrepreneur, founder and CEO; Venkatesh Krishna Murthy, a versatile professional, embarked on his journey in 2018, delving into the realm of creative services encompassing game design and development, UI/UX, 3D art, NFT, and Web3 technologies. In 2019, he achieved noteworthy success with game titles such as “Epiko Regal” and “Toony Bricks.” Venkatesh’s accomplishments continued to soar in 2023, securing the Barclays Award and earning a nomination for the British Entrepreneurship Award.
- Dan Seto, senior communications manager; Dan pushes EDI at Warner Bros and is currently the co-chair for Being, a multicultural resource group for underrepresented employees. Working with mentorship groups like Limit Break and more, Dan always strives to do the most.
- Danielle ‘Ebonix’ Udogaranya; CEO and founder; Danielle Udogaranya – best known as Ebonix – is a content creator, speaker, Twitch Ambassador, DE&I Games Consultant and self-taught 3D artist. Through her gaming mods and content creation projects, Udogaranya has since become an advocate for diversity and representation in gaming. She was the first Black British femme to be a Twitch Partner in 2020, and she went on to co-found Black Twitch UK, a platform established to uplift and spotlight Black British streamers. This led to the formation of the first Black-focused Stream Team on Twitch in the UK.
- Nareice Wint, indie developer and senior producer; Nareice is currently a Senior Producer at a AAA Studio, where she is developing an Open-World RPG. In addition to her role as Producer, Nareice also co-leads the studio’s Accessibility, Diversity, and Inclusion Team. Outside of these roles, Nareice also leads PoC@PG, a AAA Studio’s’ People of Colour-focused Employee Resource Group which has led celebrations of Black History Month, Lunar New Year, Ramadan and more. Outside of work, Nareice is the Game Director and Studio Founder of Miami Avalon, an indie studio dedicated to telling the stories of those underrepresented through a mythical and fantastical lens.
Curator Sharna Jackson who chose the eight said: “I’m delighted to be once again curating Ensemble, for its sixth edition, with another extremely bright, bold and brilliant cohort of talent drawn across different roles in the UK games industry. Once again, we forefront the importance of a diverse industry, by demonstrating its significance in the creation of rich and intoxicating worlds and experiences for everyone.
“Vibrant and essential work is being created by Black, Asian and minority ethnic talent in the UK’s games industry each and every day. That needs to be celebrated – and it’s imperative that talent is attracted, developed and crucially retained by the sector for it to continue to succeed.”
Ensemble launched in 2018 and has since been a tentpole moment in the annual festival, helping change perceptions around games creation in the UK.
Highlights for Ensemble during #LGF24 include:
- Centerpiece exhibition as part of the installations at a Trafalgar Square takeover, Saturday 13 April
- Special YouTube launch profiling the talent at 12pm BST on Tuesday 9 April: [new link]
- Ensemble labs, talks and panels with the cohort both in-person and online
- Showcase of the exhibition at W.A.S.D. (Thursday 25 April to Saturday 27 April, The Truman Brewery)
- Interviews with cohort members featured on BBC and GamesIndustry.Biz
- The striking portraits of each artist, taken for the exhibition by photographer Joshua Fray, will also be available online on the Games London website along with individual profiles.
The exhibition will also be available to feature at other UK locations – potential hosts and partners are welcome to contact info@games.london to find out more about ways to support and take part in the programme.
