Last year, the gaming industry made roughly $90 billion in sales worldwide. That’s more than double what movies made at the box office last year. And here’s why that comparison to Hollywood is relevant. Because, like with films, the most popular video games are HUGE. They have great graphics, popular characters, and the franchises keep getting repeated over and over again. Unfortunately, blockbuster games and movies can be as thin on diversity as they are on plot.  In this episode, we’re talking about The Moonlights and Napoleon Dynamites— the indie games that are breaking out, changing paradigms, and making a case for independence in gaming. This episode features: Navid Khonsari — Co-Founder of iNK Stories Larry Hyrb —  Xbox’s Major Nelson Rik Eberhardt — Studio Manager at MIT Game Lab Mia Consalvo —  The Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design at Concordia University  Sherida Halatoe —  Found of Tiger & Squid Game Studio Karla Zimonja —  Co-Founder of The Fullbright Company Katie Stone Perez —  Developer Experience Lead at Xbox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices