Is there an increase of women in gaming?
Is there an increase of women in gaming, or are men still dominating this tech heavy, fast-moving industry?
We took to our 2022 Immersive Salary Survey and reached out to gaming professionals to ask the question, as well as whether the gender pay gap is still apparent in the gaming and immersive industry, and to find out the most prominent age ranges.
Let’s take a closer look…
The who’s who of gaming
The gender debate is often the centre of conversation in and outside of the gaming industry as it has always been known to be male dominated as women are poorly, and less frequently represented in video games. Does this make women feel that they don’t belong?
Kate Edwards, head of the International Game Developer’s Association has said:
Gaming culture has been pretty misogynistic for a long time now.”
As you can see from our findings, in 2022 there is still a larger number of men working in gaming – 60% to be exact! Women make up around 33% of the gaming community, which is still a considerable amount, but we would love to see a more even split in the future.
However, we are pleased to say that for the first time in our Salary Survey, we are seeing a more diverse representation with non-binary and gender-neutral respondents.
Is age significant?
We looked into the varied age brackets in the gaming industry, from ages 18 – 64.
In previous years, we have noticed a significant amount of gaming professionals in the younger age brackets – could this be due to the nature of gaming enabling youngsters to escape the reality of responsibility and the pressures of adult life?
This year’s results show…
As you can see, the most prominent age group is still 25-35. We can see this only increasing as the years go by due to the advance of technology and the accessibility of games for young people – it seems that gamers are getting younger!
However, for women in gaming, it appears that the majority of them fit into the ages 35-44 category at 30%, with 0% in the 18-24 category. This suggests that perhaps women are realising their interest in gaming and the urge to build a gaming career at a later stage than men.
What can we do to get more women working in gaming?
The answer to this question is simple: we need to level up diversity in the gaming sector. By doing this, women may be more interested in working in an industry that represents them in the right way.
Offering more academic opportunities to girls and women – EA have developed initiatives to do just this, and have announced only last year that, “We will provide women just starting out in games with mentorship and the tools they need to launch their careers. And we will support senior women in their development to make sure we are positioning them to lead the industry in the years to come.”
If you are interested in finding out more gaming and immersive stats for 2022, you can download your FREE copy of the 2022 Salary Survey today.
