The gaming industry has skyrocketed over the past decade and one mother-daughter duo want in on the multi-billion dollar industry.

B’Bop and Friends, created by Grefonda Hardy and her daughter Noelle Hardy, is an educational video game that helps children with their reading and writing skills. Grefonda says she wanted black kids to be able to play the game and see themselves in the characters and their experiences.

“I wanted it to be authentic,” Grefonda Hardy said. “I wanted the game to be from the African American perspective.”

The game features two male and two female characters whom all have their own storylines. Each character has their own room where they can participate in games and activities that enhance players’ reading skills. B’Bop and Friends also has multiplayer games including tennis and basketball.

“It was important for me to make the game for today’s child,” Grefonda Hardy said.

An app developer by trade, Grefonda Hardy designed B’Bop and Friends herself. Since the game’s inception, Noelle Hardy has helped her mother with gaming concepts and business strategies to help grow the company to more than 15 employees.

Grefonda Hardy said the main character of B’Bop and Friends is inspired from when her daughter was a child. Now a Howard graduate, Noelle Hardy serves as the vice president of the company.

B’Bop and Friends is currently available on Google Play, in Apple’s App Store and is set to release another series that features math in 2019.

According to CNBC, the gaming industry is on track to make more than $130 billion this year.

educational video games

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