Dark & Lovely sheds light on diversity, inclusion in gaming with ‘The Sims’ and Ebonix partnership

Dark & Lovely’s latest initiative is raising awareness of the lack of diversity in the gaming industry, and also working to help create new tools for Black gamers to express themselves in virtual worlds. 

To kickstart this campaign, the hair color brand partnered with “The Sims” video game and content creator Danielle Udogaranya, also known as Ebonix. 

Ebonix worked alongside the brand to create new hair colors and styles for in-game characters in “The Sims 4,” which includes game modifications made by creators with 10 to 12 color variations for each that were inspired by Dark & Lovely’s new Immersive Bolds collection. 

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“We are excited with this collaboration to bring even more representation of Black hairstyles in The Sims 4,” said Anna Huerta, senior creative director, The Sims 4. “On The Sims we not only work with our player communities but we take a thoughtful approach when it comes to inclusive expression from defining our principles on what it means to have player agency and choice in storytelling. This work in representation is so important - when we define the details of expression—lived experiences matter. By putting diverse hairstyles such as these in the game, we normalize it more and more. When players can see themselves trying on these hairstyles they can be confident in who they are in the real world as well. Our work does not stop here and is to be continued to ensure we bring to life more stories from the Black community as well as others who are looking to be further represented in gaming.”

In addition, Dark & Lovely also released the “Play in Color” social documentary that spotlights the change makers who are redefining the rules in the gaming industry. 

“The customization options in the video game industry are limited for Black gamers,” said Danielle Udogaranya. “Dark & Lovely changed the game over 50 years ago by formulating its first products for the Black community IRL. Now as characters continue to become an extension of our true selves, I am excited to partner with Dark & Lovely to immediately offer more hairstyle and color options for Black players to use in-game via my mods.”

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The new color combinations for Sims will be available in “The Sims 4” game in partnership with Dark & Lovely beginning April 2. 

“This is just the beginning of what I hope will become a snowball effect towards games and companies taking the importance of accurate and meaningful representation to the next level,” said Udogaranya. “This isn’t a tick-box exercise, this is a purpose-driven impact to change the gaming experiences for generations to come!”