We develop and publish original & existing IP titles...
We build games and playful technology which centers Black and brown joy. We know that underrepresented audiences are hungry to see themselves and their stories in games, and, there is a huge opportunity to address this by inventing brand new forms of play across both existing and emergent platforms.
We partner with diverse IP partners to build deeply authentic game experiences in a way that few other studios can, such as our flagship game, Insecure: The Come Up Game, in partnership with HBO.
We’re also building our own original IP worlds in video games ranging from mobile to XR and beyond, steeped in our own cultural influences.
... and we also work with partners to bring diverse games to life.
In addition to our existing partnerships with HBO, Niantic, and more, we also work with partners who share our value for diverse storytelling to offer creative game production services which help us find out more about our undeserved audience and their play preferences.
In 2023, we partnered with Oregon Shakespeare Festival to release “Hella Iambic”, a tie-in live event mobile game experience set in the world of Romeo and Juliet, and blurring the line between classical literature and hip-hop.
We research & develop fresh new culturally-informed game mechanics.
We value original research and development into fresh new game mechanics that subvert the idea that diverse games are simply “reskins” of existing game interaction patterns. We are inventing new game mechanics which we call “culturally-informed” – the first of these is our proprietary rap-rhyme composition framework, RhymeStep, which allows players to create rap verses and fulfill the fantasy of being a freestyle rapper in an encouraging, self-expressive way.
Our Chief Rap Officer Enongo was able to help transpose her skill as a freestyle rapper into a brand new game mechanic, making it the first of its kind to blend contextual understanding of language with gameplay where your words are your weapons.
We’re continuing research and development into our RhymeStep framework and augmenting this with artificial intelligence to take this mechanic further, making the authoring process easier for not only for our own team, but so we’re able to bring in other rappers and artists onto our platform too. This AI-driven approach also allows for greater player expression.
We publish and support games by underestimated developers.
In addition to developing and publishing our own games, we’re also using what we’ve learned about underserved audiences in games to help other developers who have been historically marginalized develop and publish their games, too.
By offering funding, support, and community, we’re aiming to be the platform that connects diverse developers with a diverse audience.
We research & compile key data on underserved players in games... and we're building a community.
Although across the global games industry, the average player is actually a 34 year old woman and drives the MAJORITY of spending (over 70%) of the 90bn mobile games market, nuanced demographic data is scarce – and there is no gaming-specific data that is yet understood for women of color.
Glow Up Games is beginning to identify player profiles in the gaming industry that have been historically left behind, but that we’re seeing is actually the new gaming majority. Based on the first party data we gathered as a part of launching Insecure, we now have a better understanding of these unseen players.
As we become the go-to platform for diverse audiences to find diverse games, we’re building community to help our players feel seen and affirmed for the first time.
In short, we are inventing the future of play for the new gaming majority.
We believe the future of games and play is diverse, not only in terms of the the stories that are told, but also the platforms and play styles that will help us build the future of play.
We’re developing games for existing platforms such as mobile and PC, but also researching and building experiences for VR and AR-first devices, as well as leveraging developments in AI to build fresh new games mechanics.
