A Black and women-owned video game company has created the first “adventure activist” augmented reality game.
Known as Wicked Saints Studio, the company is planning to release World Reborn, an interactive game that focuses on real-world situations to help users explore activism, in the late summer. The purpose of the game is to help teach the player how to deal with problems by working alongside other fictional characters in an effort to promote common ground activism.
The application revolves around augmented reality, also known as AR, and meshes the digital world with the physical world. In a simulation where they need to “save a school to save the world,” the players have to use their real surroundings to complete tasks like physically stepping into a new part of the digital world or finding symbols that are “hidden” throughout their real-world room.
World Reborn also helps the users work on bettering their health by encouraging them to deal with things such as mental health in effective ways. Throughout the application, the players are given breathing exercises to practice as “strengthening tasks” that allow them to clear their minds momentarily.
“We are merging digital art, storytelling, and technology in the real world, in ways that haven’t been seen before, a new frontier on the way to the metaverse,” said Jessica Murrey, the CEO and Co-Founder of Wicked Saints Studio in a press release. “Players will see their impact in real-time, as they learn how to attack the problem, not the person, and overcome humanity’s greatest challenges–together.”
The company has received financial support from multiple companies in the form of pre-seed venture funding, a type of investment for businesses that have just started out. As of now, they’ve raised $1.1 million, becoming part of a group of under 100 Black and women-led companies to have gotten this much in funds.
“It’s definitely been challenging and there’s times when I’ve had a hard time getting in the room,” said Murrey in conversation with NBC5. “Once I’ve gotten in the room, I’ve had a hard time with people taking me seriously or calling me back.”
In addition to venture capitalist firms Precursor Ventures and Authentic Ventures, Wicked Saints Studios has been backed by video game company Riot Games, co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, and former CFO of Roblox, Andy Chmyz, amongst others. The company has also signed on multiple advisors, including the Vice President of Games at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paul Joffe, and lawyer, author and CNN host, Van Jones.
Wicked Saints Studio took off last year when Niantic, the developers behind Pokemon Go, enlisted them as part of their Black Developers Initiative, a program that’s devoted to increasing the number of Black creators in the gaming industry.
In addition to Murrey, the company is led by co-founder Alicia Clifton, a psychological researcher, and Daphne Larose, a former Niantic technical lead manager and a member of the Forbes ‘Top 50 Women in Tech” list.
The women were joined by a variety of professionals in the making of World Reborn such as Christian Marsh Reiman, an Emmy-nominated narrative designer.
“The goal is to captivate Gen Z with amazing experiences full of dope art, swoon-worthy characters, and jaw-dropping plot twists,” said a spokesperson in a statement on the company’s website. “World Reborn harnesses the power of storytelling, gameplay, and technology to champion an entire generation.”
