As soon as Karina started work at one of the leading companies in the gaming industry, she quickly realized that the working environment was extremely poor. She described it as a “bro culture,” similar to being in a college fraternity. Not only was there a culture of excessive drinking in the workplace, but her male colleagues would make inappropriate comments about her body, put their arms around her, and touch her without consent. “All of this happened within the first six to eight months of starting the job,” she recalls. Although these incidents occurred a few years ago, it’s possible that a younger woman entering the industry today may find that not much has changed. The gaming industry has long faced criticism for its lack of female workers, largely due to numerous complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination throughout the sector.
Over the past five years, several major game studios, including Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Riot Games, have faced allegations of fostering a culture of sexism and harassment within their organizations. This has led to an image problem for the industry. While the number of women in gaming is slowly increasing, there is a call for better representation within this $200 billion industry, particularly to cater to female consumers through more diverse games.
“The industry has an image problem,” says Marie-Claire Isaaman, the CEO of Women in Games, a non-profit organization that collaborates with the industry to address gender disparities. Isaaman argues that both toxic work environments within companies and online abuse from gamers are deterring women from pursuing careers in gaming. Despite the industry providing opportunities for creative work on games played by billions of people worldwide, entry-level opportunities are still limited.
Data from the Game Developers Conference, a leading annual event for developers, reveals that approximately 23% of individuals in the gaming industry are women, 5% identify as non-binary, and 70% are men. The number of women has only increased by 3 percentage points from the previous year and 6 percentage points from five years ago. “Half of the population are women, and half of players globally are women, so why are we still seeing such slow progress in terms of representation?” asks Isaaman. According to her, companies could do more to hire and nurture female talent.
Although sexism remains prevalent in certain areas of the industry, new entrants are less willing to tolerate it. Long-term surveys conducted by the International Game Developers Association, which represents individuals from all aspects of game development, indicate that unequal treatment is increasing within the industry. When asked whether they had experienced or witnessed inequity, 75% of non-minority women and 90% of minority women responded affirmatively, compared to only 20% of non-minority men. Half of these men reported witnessing such treatment.
These findings come at a time when there is a decrease in game developer jobs across the industry. In the UK, for example, more than 700 open positions were removed from the market in the last six months of 2022, and the peak number of available jobs in June 2022 was around 2,000, according to UK recruitment platform Games Jobs Live. “It is quite competitive,” says Sam McKinney, a game designer at Gasket Games in Canada. “There aren’t many junior roles, and when one does become available, there are hundreds of applicants within the first 24 hours.”
However, not all women in the industry have experienced discrimination or harassment, and they remain hopeful that the next generation of women can help change the culture. “As new people enter the industry, we are no longer putting up with sexism,” says McKinney. “Behaviors that were once accepted are now considered unacceptable.”
Mara McGreal, a 25-year-old environmental artist at Radical Forge in north-east England, organizes monthly meetups for individuals working in the games industry. She intentionally hosts non-drinking events to create a more inclusive environment. Changes are beginning to take place. According to an analysis by game trade body Ukie, among games workers such as writers, designers, and programmers, men make up the majority in age groups over 36. However, for those under 25, there is a higher proportion of women and non-binary individuals.
Nevertheless, there has been no change in this distribution since 2020, and the gender balance in senior roles remains imbalanced, with women accounting for less than a quarter of senior and lead positions.
The Financial Times interviewed 10 women from various roles in the gaming industry worldwide, and they all described it as “male-dominated.” Half of them reported experiencing sexual harassment or discrimination in their careers.
Alevtina Usmanova, a senior game designer at Wooga in Berlin, has been working in the industry for 20 years and notes the challenges women face in advancing their careers. She says, “I have held quite high positions, but it was unusual to see opportunities for women to progress.” Usmanova also mentions that at the beginning of her career, she was paid less than her male counterparts, although she sees progress in this regard.
Andrea Gude, a development tester at Digital Legends in Barcelona, a company owned by Activision, including work on Call of Duty games, emphasizes the importance of interacting with senior women in the industry, which helped boost her confidence. “My biggest obstacle to overcome was the misconception that a career in the gaming industry is not ambitious enough,” she explains. Gude joined the company at the beginning of 2023 and sees a business case for greater diversity, as it allows for the creation of games that cater to a wider audience of women.
McKinney sums up her hope for the future, saying, “As new generations enter the industry, we hope to see the eradication of sexism.”
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