It’s a global challenge, though the gap in India is more pronounced. Women represent only 22-24% of the worldwide gaming workforce, compared to 46% of global gamers.
“The gaming industry holds tremendous potential for growth and women have a critical role to play in its evolution. By bringing women in, we don’t just benefit women—we enrich the industry as a whole,” said Namratha Swamy, chief operating officer (COO) of Bengaluru-based online gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL). “The future of gaming needs women not just as players, but as decision-makers, designers, and disruptors,” she told ET.
February 2025 is being celebrated as the first ‘Women in gaming month’ to recognise and amplify the voices of women in the industry. The initiative is called Mabel Addis Women in Games Month, after Mabel Addis, the first female game designer who created The Sumerian Game in 1964.
The Women in Games report highlighted the various challenges women face in the gaming industry. They include gender bias in hiring and promotions, lack of mentorship, workplace discrimination, pay disparities, limited networking opportunities, and a perceived male dominance in the gaming culture.
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The report found that women are present in limited numbers in technical roles, primarily in positions that blend technical and creative skills such as quality assurance (QA) testers, UI/UX designers and data analysts/game analysts. In coding-intensive roles like game developers/programmers, women are rare.Women have a stronger presence in non-technical roles, particularly in creative, design, and community-facing positions like game designers, game artists/animators, writers/narrative designers, community managers, marketing and PR specialists, and project managers/producers, it found.
The low representation of women spans levels, with women in Indian gaming companies holding only 12-14% of senior positions like CEOs, directors, managers, and senior executives. This, in turn, means fewer female perspectives in game narratives, character development, and overall industry decision-making.
Salone Sehgal, founding general partner at interactive media and gaming venture capital fund Lumikai, said improving gender diversity is essential not just for better workplace culture but also for building better products that represent the overall gaming audience.
According to her, the male domination of the gaming industry is a function of lower representation of women in STEM – and consequently in tech. “The biggest problem is that if you can’t see it, you can’t be it. You need to see role models you can model your career on,” Sehgal said.
It starts with dialogue and then a push to hire and retain, she said. “There are conscious conversations we have with founders of our portfolio companies; and when we hire, the pipeline of candidates remains diverse. That starts right from the stage of job posts, where we have found that diversity applications are higher when we leave out words like ninjas and samurais because that tends to rebuff women,” Sehgal said.
Lumikai offers flexible working and nannycare allowance among others for women employees. Its Lumikai Pathbreakers campaign featured 100 women trailblazers in India’s interactive media.