The video game industry continues to be overwhelmingly white, male, and straight, a new study from the International Game Developers Association shows.
In a survey published Monday, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) surveyed 963 people working in the games industry and data from respondents found that when it comes to diversity, 74% of workers are cis males, 61% are white/caucasian/European, and 81% are heterosexual, despite the majority of respondents claiming diversity in game development to be "very important" or "somewhat important" to them.
The survey compiled data based on answers primarily from people who are actively working in video game development or publishing, as well as small percentages of people who have been laid off from games industry jobs and people who are looking to work in the games industry, study the games industry, or are otherwise involved with the games industry.
"The DSS (Developer Satisfaction Survey) should be troubling for every person who loves the creation, business, or play experience of games," wrote IGDA in the introduction to the study. "While the overwhelming majority of game developers recognize the importance of diversity, game development as a profession can still be unwelcoming, with half of survey respondents asserting that they do not believe there is equal treatment of developers, and half of respondents witnessing or experiencing inequity."
Disconnect from audiences
The IGDA survey received the most responses from people born in the United States — with people from the U.S. making up 40% of survey respondents — but the balance of respondents' ethnic identities don't reflect the demographics of the countries they're from.
Of the 963 respondents:
only 1% of survey respondents identified as Black, African American, or African
4% identified as Hispanic or Latinx.
23% identified as female (with 75% of respondents identifying as male)
5% identified as transgender or "other"
19% identified as non-heterosexual
These results reveal a big disparity between the community of developers making games and the audience of gamers playing them.
"The DSS (Developer Satisfaction Survey) should be troubling for every person who loves the creation, business, or play experience of games"
A Pew Research Center study from 2015 shows that 19% of Hispanic people and 11% of black people in the U.S. would say the term "gamer" describes them well. Only 7% of white people would say the same.
Another portion of that same study examines how men and women identify with gaming. According to the study, 50% of men have played video games and 48% of women have played video games, although only 15% of men and 6% of women describe themselves as gamers.
Part of this male/female disparity in gaming may come from the hostility and harassment that women face in gaming communities. For instance, a 2015 study showed that males were more likely to be hostile toward low-skilled female players in Halo 3 than they were to low-skilled male players.
Additionally, male gamers involved with GamerGate — a loose group of gamers that have routinely harassed and threatened women since 2014 — may dissuade women from seeking jobs in the games industry.
Even though 84% of respondents said diversity in the games industry was important, actions speak louder than words. The majority of respondents (58%) felt that the industry did not grow any more diverse over the last two years.
Bridging the gap
Some game developers and gaming communities are fighting to improve diversity in gaming and the games industry.
Developers like Culture Shock Games and Dim Bulb Games bring in diverse voices in their games — including notable projects like We Are Chicago and Where the Water Tastes Like Wine — to make sure different demographics are accurately represented or are a part of the creative process.
There are also gaming communities like Smash Sisters, which hosts Super Smash Bros. tournaments for women around the country, encouraging women to compete in an otherwise male-dominated space.
Additionally, organizations like Girls Who Code work to encourage young girls to learn how to code, a vital part of the game development process, and potentially inspire them to seek jobs as programmers.
But as it stands right now, the video games industry has a long way to go before its diversity problem is solved.
