If you aren’t yet convinced that gaming and video game development hasn’t made its way to the mainstream yet, Nickelodeon is ready to prove you wrong. The children’s television network is launching a series titled Game Shakers starring two up-and-comer child actresses, Cree Cicchino and Madisyn Shipman, playing a pair of girls, Babe and Kenzie, respectively, who design and program a mobile game that sees success thanks to the help of financial backer Double G, played by Kel Mitchell. Perhaps most interesting is that the show’s staff is making public a real, playable version of each game that the duo develops within the show. They’ll be made available through the show’s website.
Take a look at the studio tour (part 2!) available on the official Nickelodeon YouTube channel:
Don’t start shaking your heads and rolling your eyes because its “just another Nickelodeon show.” The fact that it’s even on Nickelodeon at all implies two things: network executives see gaming (particularly mobile gaming) as something so relevant to their target audience that it’s worth a television series delving into the details of that process targeted at children, and that gaming is particularly relevant to millennial children. Along with the relevance and hysteria surrounding Minecraft among children, this is highly indicative of a generation of people, the first generation of people, to grow up in a world where video games and gaming are mainstream and commonly accepted.
If you grew up in the ’90s watching Kenan and Kel or All That, which is a growing majority of current adults, you’ll recognize Kell Mitchell playing the role of Double G, the character responsible for the financial support necessary for the show’s leading duo, Babe and Kenzie, to develop and promote their mobile game. He was the one that revealed to Polygon that “[a]ll of the games on the show can actually be downloaded” through the channel’s website. He also noted his love of the old-school Sonic the Hedgehog games and the Pokemon franchise. He went on to praise Nickelodeon’s decision to implement “two girls who can code. That’s a first for Nickelodeon.”
While there are countless other implications a series like this brings with it, there isn’t enough space or time here to do them any justice. The series premiered on September 12th, 2015, but interested parties that missed tonight’s new episode can see the next new episode of the show on Nickelodeon on October 24th.