Games industry needs more women, says Dunn
- Posted March 10th, 2008 at 13:27 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 1,893 views
- 33 Comments
Former Burnout Producer Emily Newton-Dunn has addressed the gender imbalance within today’s videogames industry, suggesting that the market would do wise to capitalize on the female gaming sector, or in turn risk losing "a sizeable amount of revenue."
Speaking at the recent Birds Eye View Film Festival in London, Dunn tackled the issue of the games industry having become “for males, by males,” stating that women should have a far more prominent role within the market.
“Personally I don’t think you have to be a woman to make great games for women,” said Dunn, adding, “but I think that sometimes women might bring a different sensibility to the table which will enhance or make games more appealing to women.
“Like in any other creative media the more diversity you can attract or the more you personally go out and do different things and see other stuff the more you’re going to bring back to your job.”
Dunn remarked that it is crucial to maintain a diverse approach to game development if the industry is to maintain originality and appeal.
“I think if games were only ever made by one type of person you’d get really boring games. You need to bring in some different cultures, different people, different sexes and different interests, otherwise you’re just going to be churning out the same stuff again and again.”
Comments
-
themilkman870
- 1:30pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 1
Uh no they need to stay in the kitchen where they belong. Make us sandwiches and bring beer to the gaming room thats the only thing they need to be doing that relates to gaming.
-
Deusthousand |
Deusthousand- 1:34pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 2
Wow!Milkman youre a jerk.Took the words right out my mouth.
-
Bomani
- 1:38pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 3
Damn milkman that's pretty harsh don't you think? Well, I see where she is coming from with the whole diversity thing in games. It would be boring if we only had one type of person pushing out games all the time. A variety of cultures makes gaming diverse and fun. I wonder what women would bring to it. Pretty interesting.
-
NitroMikeo
- 1:38pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 4
lmao. Agreed. Women can bring us men the food while we game playing man games.
-
Crono
- 1:40pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 5
Is Dunn really saying that games are "boring" and lack diversity simply because they're not catering to females? What exactly are "women's game's" anyway?
She's making some outlandish claims, saying that people will lose interest in games as they're going - they've been going for over 20 years and it's increasing year-by-year. I think we're getting enough diversity and 'different cultures' (whatever that means) in gaming, and she's making a fuss over nothing. If a person can't find anything appealing in the entire gaming industry today, then gaming isn't for them - whether they're a female or not.
-
-
Gomersoul |
Gomersoul- 2:07pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 7
yeah they got a pink nintendo ds and nintendogs, videogames are just a mans thing, you wouldn't try and get men into hair and make-up would you? and as for the whole diversity thing, thats ridiculous, men are generally more ambitious and hobby motivated than women. just the way it is.
-
Stickemup
- 2:15pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 8
Yeah tell that to Nintendo. Even with a femal character in FFXIII, women still wont pick something like that up. Nintendo already has a bunch of games that women would get into. They're too busy getting tanned and brushing their hair to care about anything else.
-
AclayPS3
- 2:17pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 9
Well, more guys grow up gaming and I think that guys take gaming more seriously, and therefore more guys grow up with a stronger passion for video games and more guys end up being game developers.
There are those very rare females that are hardcore gamers, but they are rare finds. I think that most girls think that it's not "girly" to play video games and therefore the majority of them don't get drawn too it... most girls would rather text, talk on the phone, watch T.V., or go shopping.
I really don't think that it would be a big difference if more women were involoved in gaming because there are plenty of games that are targeted toward casual gamers (mostly girls). But I think that it would be pretty interesting to see what type of games women would develop.
-
gingo |
gingo- 2:39pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 10
psn id: gingo.... this is just going to open up the flood gates for companies to start hiring more woman but not to develop the game, no, they will use them for sex appeal to market their games to men its the harsh fact of life and until more females start playing games there will still be a gender imbalance within the industry
-
Die-romantic |
Demon_King- 2:45pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 11
Maybe its todays sh!t schools career system since they don't know anything about gaming+cash at my loody school i learned nothing about this kbap yet Boycott the british government
-
yoboyrob9041226 |
BIGROB904- 2:53pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 12
what she need to do is stop crying and watch a man play a real game. not trying to be mean or anything, i dont want her to cry more about it
-
GreyFox666 |
GreyFox666- 2:55pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 13
Oh wow...yall really hating on Female Gamers... that's sad... i wonder why... yall tired of getting yo a5535 whooped on COD by a girl... stop yo damn whining... if the ladies want in let'em in... yall probably play Burnout, and look who had a part in that sh1t... Ms. Dunn... or did yall miss that part...
-
-
-
GunsOfLiberty |
GunsOfLiberty- 3:18pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 16
Yeah women need to increase, you never know what a chick comes up with!!
-
iplayonlysony
- 3:31pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 17
I agree, there should be more women! I think it would be cool to have them at gaming conventions...wait, nevermind.
-
-
Dave-The-Rave |
Dave-The-Rave- 4:02pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 19
What a pile of feminist crap, if a man and a woman came to interview for a job I would chose the guy over the girl if he performed better..likewise if the girl did better I would hire her !! I wouldn't hire the girl even if she gave a bad impression just cause "OOOOH THERE AREN'T ENOUGH WOMEN !!"
-
-
MMDs |
MMDs- 4:11pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 21
My girl likes the Sims, i think thats sorta in the right direction, right? Home looks like a virtual myspace. so that will be cool for both sexes. So i'm interested in what she means by more diversity by having more women in leads positions making decisions in the industry. Whatever happens, please don't turn the gaming industry into what MTV is now today (instead of Music television, they should be calling it teenage reality soap opera channel, i mean dam wtf happened.)
-
-
nevertell |
nevertell- 4:39pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 23
I agree that the majority of gamers are male. But that has nothing to do with who designed the games, or who works in the office of the company. It just seems to be more interesting to the male gender. I mean come on, guys have always been into technology and autos. It's not because it was a guy who made it. That type of stuff is just more interesting to men. As far as women playing games, my girlfriend loves playing games, or even spends time watching me play a game. She of course plays The Sims. When HOME comes out, I'm sure it will be much more of a challenge to get her to just watch me play my games. hahaha. Of course I do believe that women do think differently then men, so haveing more around couldn't hurt to bad, just don't let them be the deciding factors, that's all I'm saying. They are valueable for opinions, they just can't always be very decisive with multiple options. If women must be "included" in this industry, just put them in some low cut shirts and short mini skirts. Nothing wrong with that. Wouldn't you all agree?
-
-
Muzikguy |
Muzikguy- 5:36pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 25
What's with all the lack of diversity and all in the news lately?? Of course things aren't going to be very diverse when you have 100 FPS games a year coming out. Sports games aren't going to change much because then it wouldn't be the sport it's portraying. We have our God of War, MGS, FF, Silent Hill, RE, Prince of Persia, Jak & Daxter, R&C, DMC, and now Uncharted (w/ spinoffs). Things seems fine to me. How much more diverse can that list get? I agree with Crono. What is this person trying to say? We need cooking games? Games with flowers and green pastures? Or is she saying that we need DRAMA in games (like soaps). Can you say YUCK?! He*l, they even have a Sopranos game don't they?
-
zbamf
- 5:40pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 26
The games that we have today what is it that makes them 'male only' games?
I know the genres are of shooting, action, adventure, sports, ect. But if you look at the movie industry you have all these genres of films that women do watch. If you say a romantic love movie is a womens movie, how can you incorperate that type of genre into a game?
There are many games out there that women will and do love like Singstar and puzzle games but you also find they can like FPS and RPG's but to attract more women gamers I really can't see how women developers can acheive this?
The real problem I find that there is too many TV programmes for women. I can watch 1 football match a fornight and that would be the only thing I would watch in that fornight and all I get is 'Not football again' while they have spent about 8hrs a day watching chat shows, soap operas, shopping channels and reality TV contests such as 'Dancing on Ice'. They'll get more women into gaming as soon as they get women to stop watching cr@p on tv.
-
-
psn_frov |
frov- 5:48pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 28
Wow, the comments weren't what I expected from all of you, a whole lot of guys don't want this....why? Is it because they're afraid of a little change in the industry? I really wouldn't mind it at all because then there would be some different games in the market. Anyway interesting article.
-
-
djrussell |
djrussell89- 8:38pm GMT - March 10th, 2008
- 30
The majority of gamers are male.. THATS why the majority of games are made for guys. Who wants to make games for a market that doesnt exist? Females do play games, yes, but people like Emily Newton-Dunn just need to accept the fact that the industry isnt calling out for it.. it doesnt need more games directed an a female audience cause it simply isnt there. She says that the industry is missing out on a "sizable amount of revenue" - but in fact the reality is they would more than likely lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year if they took her approach. I just really wish women would drop this "we're being left behind" attitude... this isnt the1960s anymore people, and i'm sick to death of it.
-
-
-
PS3-The Ultimate Machine
- 8:41pm GMT - March 13th, 2008
- 33
I thought women weren't generally interested in viedogames?W/e floats their boat i guess,it's not like we have anything against female devs,just look at Assasin's Creed,Heavenly Sword and the like,those are both near AAA material games,well in my book they are AAA,but i'm not the one writing the reviews.
Advertisement