Female-led Israeli studio Toya (and veteran Roblox creator) has partnered with Dove to release Super U Story. Super U Story is a Roblox game aimed at young girls and teens ages 9-16, to promote more realistic beauty standards and diverse representation.
Super U Story drops players into an academy for superheroes. Players can fully customize their avatars with a diverse range of body types, skin tones, and abilities.
The Academy is under attack by a group of students trying to spread negativity. Players can use their powers to destroy the literal poison that now threatens the school. Throughout the game, players are bestowed confidence in their bodies, and given tools to handle bullying and negativity, particularly found in social media.
Research from Dove, co-published with Women in Games and the Centre for Appearance Research, found that 60% of girl gamers felt misrepresented in video games. Over a third of young girls reported self-esteem issues after seeing a lack of diverse options in female character options.
“With thousands of games made every year, it’s astounding that none of them address the continuing societal challenges and pressures that young girls face every day, especially in regards to their bodies,” said Anat Shperling, founder and CEO, Toya. “In reality, we all come in different shapes, sizes, colors, abilities and that should be reflected and celebrated in the digital content and worlds that are consumed every day, which was a driving force for why we created Super U Story. We created the experience to encourage reflection and spark conversations that we hope helps the next generation avoid the struggles that women face today and instead accept themselves as they are, beautiful, in so many ways.”
Super U Story is currently available in beta, and fully launching this fall. Roblox is available on PC, Xbox, and iOS and Android mobile devices.
