The gaming company's debut builds upon Shero Comics' mission to spotlight women and girls of color

LOS ANGELES - Aug. 3, 2023 - PRLog -- Just weeks after Shero Comics celebrated its seven-year anniversary of publishing comics with women and girls of color as powerful protagonists, the company is set to debut its brand-new gaming division, Shero Games, at the Jrue & Lauren Holiday Social Impact Fund's Dual-Court Classic in Los Angeles.

Despite women making up 48% of all gamers, less than 6% of games feature a female protagonist. With a wealth of Black female-led comic book IPs like Rayven Choi, Squad Goals, The Legend of Cahokia, and Young Grandmaster Choi to pull from, Shero Games plans to bridge this gap by building a series of mobile, PC, and Roblox games that feature women and girls of color as standalone protagonists.

Since launching on July 19, 2016, just before that year's annual San Diego Comic-Con, Shero Comics has caught the eye of readers, publishers, developers, and most recently, philanthropists.

"Though I've been a gamer my whole life, it wasn't until I exhibited at my first comic con in 2016 when a developer approached me about turning Rayven Choi into a video game that the idea of building games landed on my radar," said Shequeta L. Smith, award-winning writer and founder of Shero Comics. "Now with several more IPs under my belt, I think it's the perfect time to make video games with Sheroes at the epicenter."

In 2022, a small grant from digitalundivided made it possible to build the prototype for Shero Games' first mobile game. In 2023, the company was selected for two highly selective philanthropic programs to support the upcoming launch: Goldman Sachs's One Million Black Women: Black in Business, and Jrue & Lauren Holiday Social Impact (JLH) Fund.

Shero Games will launch with "Rayven Choi: Reaper's Run," a Subway Surfers-style mobile game based on the award-winning graphic novel Rayven Choi. The game features the iconic protagonist Rayven running from a Reaper, a formidable hitman, through a visually stunning interpretation of ancient Korea.

In addition to matching what Shero Games raises this October on the Fund Black Founders platform, the JLH Fund — founded by Jrue and Lauren Holiday, recipients of the 2023 Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian ESPY Award, — is also hosting the company's soft launch during their upcoming Dual-Court Classic, a celebrity basketball and soccer tournament that aims to elevate Black founders for Black Business & Philanthropy Month. Attendees will be the very first audience to play the game.

Rayven Choi: Reaper's Run will be available for download in early 2024. Learn about Shero Comics and Shero Games www.sherocomics.com.