London Games Festival has been underway since April 1st, only finishing today, with events occurring both in-person and online. During these events, a Red Dead Redemption 2 screenshot won a competition promoting the art of virtual photography.
The winning entry, which features a silhouetted figure on horseback with a beautiful backdrop, was submitted by Joe Meizies. All of the entries were displayed around Trafalgar Square as part of London Games Festival, which would have been a stunning sight for all.
“The challenge celebrates the new artistic medium of virtual photography where creators can bring video game design and virtual worlds to life. From a stunning landscape to intimate portrait, candid street to abstract architecture or historical to sci-fi fantasy,”
London Games Festival
The competition, which was supported by Nvidia Studio and The Fourth Focus, has entries from various top-selling games including, Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part 2. All entries submitted have been made available in a Google Drive Folder, which can be viewed, and entires were judged by The Fourth Focus.
The exhibition in Trafalgar Square showcased Ensemble too and its ambition to promote diversity within the UK video game industry. Head of Games London, Michael French, made a statement stating, ”We wanted to celebrate these trailblazers from underrepresented backgrounds and tell their stories. Hopefully that will show others from all over the world that people that look like them, work in this sector. I think that’s the only way we can change that talent ratio over time.”
French also stated that Ensemble is ”just the right thing to do. I can measure and record all of the business wins we get during the festival but actually, uplifting these people that haven’t had the chance to tell their story is incredibly rewarding.”
It has recently been found that 67 per cent of workers in the game industry are male, whilst 30 per cent are female and 3 per cent being non-binary. Upon further investigating it was uncovered that 66 per cent identify as White British , 24 per cent as White Other, 5 per cent as Black, 2 per cent as Asian, 2 per cent as Mixed/Multiple ethnicities and finally, 2 per cent as Other. This polled over 3600 industry professionals.