15% of Game Developers in the UK are Women - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 11 November 2014 / 3,927 Views
The UK game development is male dominated. Women make up just 15 percent of employees in UK game development studios, according to research done by Develop. This is up slightly from 14 percent in 2012, and up from six percent in 2009.
The diversity of gamers has improved over the years. However, it is still not 50/50. One of the reasons could be the majority of developers are male and they make games they want to play.
"The history of the games industry is boys making games for boys," said the founder of Women in Games Jobs David Smith. "The success of games as a medium now means they are played almost equally by the young and old of both genders, but games creators have remained largely male."
"A natural reluctance to change what seems to have worked in the past has meant in certain areas the creation of a ‘boys’ club’, where women are thought not to be welcome. This has made it difficult for the number of games developers who do want to align their workforces more closely to their customers to attract diverse talent."
King’s chief people officer Ciara Smyth added that the issue is due to the gaming industry focusing on technical talent. Overall, there are fewer women making careers in that field.
"The net result is that there are proportionally less women in the sector than in others, which is a shame as the games market is such a vibrant and growing industry, where companies like King can provide exceptionally rewarding and challenging careers for anyone with skills that fit the industry," saod Smyth.
"In contrast to technical roles in gaming, when you look at the marketing of games and other functional areas within the industry, women are better represented. Until we can get more women thinking about and committing to careers in engineering, whether that be through opportunities presented through schools and colleges, or through companies like ours hosting mentoring sessions and open days to show the possibilities the industry holds for women, we will likely continue to see this under representation in the sector."
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A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. Outside, in the real world, he has a passion for the outdoors which includes everything from hiking to having received his B.A. in Environmental Studies. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Umm it doesn't matter?
I got a serious question. Why should it matter what gender, ethnicity, orientation, height, body size, religion, political view, etc. that a game developer is?
To me, I really don't care about all of that and feel the label making game is the biggest obstacle getting in peoples way. The recent rhetoric that's been getting thrown around about it doesn't help either.
When you meet somebody, the first thing you should recall is them as a person and their individuality, not their gender, ethnicity, orientation, height, body size, religion, political view, etc. which is why I find reports like this completely unnecessary.
"However, it is still not 50/50." Why should it be?
"...the issue is due to the gaming industry focusing on technical talent" This is not an issue and seeking technical talent makes much more sense than seeking gender parity no matter what.
man you got some catching up to do, Anita wont be happy until every job is done equally by both genders, including (with a lot of bloodshed) Childbirth o/
Seriously, how is this news?
Aside from things that are overtly sexist like female armor that gets more effective the more it reveals, or more subtle things like fewer well written female characters, I really don't see anything in today's games that is inherently "the games the male developers want to play." Like seriously, are you trying to say the problem is that male developers don't want to make games with pink stuff and dresses and make up and that's why more girls don't play? Because that's a load of bullshit. The secret to getting more girls to play video games isn't putting "what girls want" into video games, but to stop enforcing gender roles that discourage girls from playing "what guys want." There's no reason women should inherently like action and adventure games less than men. It's not a problem with gaming culture, it's a problem with the culture as a whole.
Is this really something that interesting? I mean, it´s good that there are female developers, but why are we so sensitive about women being in this industry? Is this just one of our funny politically correct age thing?
Is this really something that interesting? I mean, it´s good that there are female developers, but why are we so sensitive about women being in this industry? Is this just one of our funny politically correct age thing?
F'ing useless news.
