Sexism in the Game Industry

Part I: Introduction

Welcome to my four-part series on sexism in the video game industry. I want to take a broader look at the problems in the industry as a whole. My focus will be both on PC gaming and console gaming. Specifically, the topics I want to address include the history of sexism at big-name developers like Nintendo and Capcom, the prevalence of stereotypical gender roles in the game industry and the lack of inclusivity prevalent throughout the industry. I want to show game companies exactly what kind of ugly culture they foster in the work they produce.

I will also be focusing on the causes and effects of the Gamergate controversy, and also on how strongly critical some prominent gamers are of female characters becoming leads in their favorite franchises. I will make a fairly strong business case that these people are indeed who developers have been marketing to for the past 30 years.

The amount of sexism prevalent in the game industry can and will lead to significant consumer backlash and a downturn in company profits, as I will describe in part iii. I will investigate how sexualized, weak portrayals of women in video games can drive down sales of video games. I will delve into why game companies choose stability over innovation when they choose to continue making games with the same tired sexist tropes in them, and the types of effects that these tropes have on the gaming community.

Part IV will be an open letter to developers summarizing my main points from parts II and III to effectively make a marketing-oriented case for them to become more inclusive in the products they put out. I am very hopeful and excited moving forward on this project, and I hope you all enjoy reading the rest of this series.