The introduction of Atari’s Pong in 1972 heralded the era of video games and launched an industry that has since exploded in size and influence. In 2023, the Pew Research Center surveyed US teenagers on their video game habits 50 years later. The study yields interesting results, with 40% of teens reporting daily usage, and nearly half of those who play video games reporting that they have made at least one friend because of online gaming.
Some of the more notable statistics focus on a gender breakdown in video game habits. Almost all boys surveyed report playing video games, as opposed to approximately 75% of girls. However, an even more dramatic statistic relates to gender differences in teens’ self-perception as video game players: 62% of boys self-identify as “gamers,” compared to only 17% of girls.
Since its advent, video games have primarily targeted a male demographic, and cultural stereotypes, gender-based harassment, and representation biases have reinforced this. Interestingly, according to the Entertainment Software Association, women in the broader population actually make up 47% of video game players. Despite representing nearly half of enthusiasts, however, women still face underrepresentation in the video game industry. According to the 2025 State of the Game Industry report from the Game Developers Conference, women and nonbinary individuals constitute 32% of game developers, up from 25% in 2020. While this increase over the past five years represents a step in the right direction, we still have a long way to go.
Regardless of historical underrepresentation, women count as pioneers in video game design. Carol Shaw, for instance, has huge influence as one of the first women creators in this business. She earned her MS in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, and accepted a job at Atari as a software engineer in 1978. She went on to create River Raid for the Atari 2600 home console, and it became one of the top-selling games for the Atari 2600 upon its release. Dona Bailey, another pioneer, joined the arcade-focused division of Atari in 1980. She became one of the primary software developers and engineers for the 1981 game Centipede, which the company intentionally designed to appeal to a broader audience. Centipede stood out as one of the first arcade games to have a significant female fan base.
In the following decades, women continued to make significant impacts on the video game industry. Notably, Roberta Williams, dubbed “the queen of adventure games,” created Mystery House, widely considered the first of this genre. Williams also gained renown for creating the King’s Quest series. One of the more successful games in the franchise, 1988’s King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, novelly featured a female protagonist and became one of the most influential video games of all time.
Along with the early giants who laid the foundation for women in the video game industry, many remarkable women today continue to make important contributions. Siobhan Reddy, the studio director of Media Molecule— which produced the popular game LittleBigPlanet— prominently advocates for diversity in the video game industry. She has gained recognition for her work in promoting women in the industry and for appearing in Fortune’s “10 Powerful Women in Gaming in 2014” and on the BBC’s “100 Women” list in 2021. Bonnie Ross, a video game developer who formerly led the company 343 industries and had a hugely influential leadership role in the Halo franchise, has also received recognition for her role in promoting diversity in video games and for appearing on 2024 list of “10 Powerful Women in Video Games.”
Today, several groups and industry leaders push for the inclusion of women and nonbinary developers. Women have founded and cofounded many video game studios, including Mady Thorson of Extremely OK Games, Megan Fox of Glass Bottom Games, and Tanya Short of Kitfox Games. Short has also cofounded Pixelles, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing gender diversity in the industry. Along with Pixelles, organizations such as Girls Make Games and Code Coven focus on promoting gender inclusivity in game development.
Clearly, many talented women and nonbinary people now work dedicatedly to change the longstanding narrative about men and boys dominating both video game creation and gaming itself. While the gender stereotype persists, the push for more inclusivity extends from the content of video games to the people creating them.
Hannah Fricke, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and holds a PhD in Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her current research focuses on reproductive hormones and sexual dimorphisms in osteoarthritis, and she has a background and passion for science communication.
This article was originally published in AWIS Magazine. Join AWIS to access the full issue of AWIS Magazine and more member benefits.