February is Black History Month, with many taking the time to spread awareness of social issues experienced by the Black community as well as celebrate its achievements. Niantic of Pokemon GO fame is celebrating Black History Month with an announcement that many Black game developers may want to take advantage of.

This announcement is of the Black Developers Initiative. The program is meant to support Black game development teams interested in developing AR games similar to Niantic's own titles.

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While the program has an open application that can be found here, it's not meant for new development teams. The criteria requires the teams to have development experience as well as experience working together and shipping out games prior. Even with this in mind, only a limited number of teams will be selected for the program with those selected getting mentorships, resources, and financial backing all from Niantic.

There are other requirements for applicants other than experience. Due to this being a program to support Black game developers, applicants are also narrowed down based on the percentage of Black team members. According to the officially given criteria, teams must be at least 50% Black, have Black team members in leadership positions on the team, have Black team members able to have direct profit lines from games, or be a studio/company that is at least 51% Black-owned, operated, and controlled. Development teams must also be made up of at least three people with at least one member working on it full time.

The program is available for applicants all around the world, meaning that team locations are not limited to America where Niantic is based. However, teams must be able to work and communicate in English.

With teams being expected to create AR games while in the program, development teams will also need to be prepared to work in the Unity engine. Niantic notes that it would be ideal for the applying teams to have their most recently shipped games developed in the Unity engine as well so the most recent work within it can be observed.

Niantic will be taking applications for Niantic Beyond Reality: Black Developers Initiative until Sunday, March 14, 2021. Those who are part of eligible teams are highly recommended to apply to get valuable funding and assistance from the game development studio. The program itself will last five months and help developers create a playable prototype of their upcoming AR game.

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Source: Niantic Labs