What Women Gamers Want

In the international version of Newsweek, Christopher Dickey and Nick Summers write an article called "A Female Sensibility," exploring why videogame makers are ignoring half their potential market.  I'm not sure "ignore" is quite the right word, but the authors are right that there are far fewer women gamers than men. 

My boss, Charlotte Stuyvenberg, is one of those crafting the message, and setting the tone in the games industry.  She recently met with Newsweek to discuss the topic, and her thoughts end up in the Newsweek article.  In this quote, she explains one of the differences between men and women gamers:

"Women gamers are very social, very strategic—they like to work together to solve problems," says Charlotte Stuyvenberg, director of global communications for Xbox. "Most designers stereotype a gamer as a guy who sits in a dorm room or office or basement and plays by himself, so a lot of games are designed with that player in mind. But as design and development mature, there are a lot more opportunities to make games more social."

There's no question that we have a lot of work to do to design games that appeal to a wider audience.  I don't necessarily think that our industry is fueled by "the high-octane testosterone of adolescent boys," but it's true that to really expand the market for videogames, we need to do more to understand women gamers, before we can begin capturing their imagination. 

The good news is that almost every day, I hear discussion about this topic.  We're conducting extensive primary research to help us understand all our customers.  We pour through analyst reports, sift through incoming data, and work with publishers to define the opportunity and adjust our plans.  More and more, women gamers are finding games that they like.  Far from merely running through a maze and shooting targets, today's games have sophisticated story lines, complex character interaction, and many games require strategic relationships and teamwork to succeed. 

Game designers and publishers are paying attention.  Just ask my boss...