GDC 2025 Session Viewer
AAPI in the Games Industry Roundtable (Presented by the IGDA)
Mika Dilig (Project Engineer, Amazon Games Studios / AAPI in Gaming SIG / Gay Gaming Professionals)
Shavonne Yu (Product Designer / Co-founder & Co-chair, Meta Reality Labs / AAPI in Games SIG)
Location: Room 304, South Hall
Date: Thursday, March 20
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Advocacy
Format: Roundtable
Vault Recording: Not Recorded
Audience Level: All
Asian Americans and Pacific Islander are often misrepresented or excluded in Western gaming media, treated as perpetual foreigners despite being integral to creating Western games. This roundtable, hosted by the AAPI In Gaming SIG, will explore: The distinction between diasporic AAPI and Asian identities and the underrepresentation of AAPI in media made for Western audiences by AAPI, the myth of overrepresentation of AAPI in gaming and how it incessantly ties AAPI to their “motherland” rather than reflecting their diasporic experience, how the game industry perpetuates this through techno-orientalism, with examples like Cyberpunk 2077 and Stray, and discuss strategies for advocating authentic Asian-American representation at work.
Join us to discuss how gaming can better reflect the diversity of our community.
Takeaway
Attendees will come away with the vocabulary, knowledge, and courage to identify and tackle harms to AAPI representation in the gaming industry.
Intended Audience
AAPI and allies welcome!
