Percentage of Women in Game Development Has Doubled

Esmeralda Portillo

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Percentage of Women in Game Development Has Doubled



The IGDA reports that the percentage of women working in game development has doubled since 2009.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) reports that the percentage of women in game development has risen from 11.5% in 2009 to 22%, courtesy of their 2014 Developer Satisfaction Survey. The survey found that the game development field is occupied by males by 76%, and the remaining 2% personally classified themselves as transgender or other.

The survey provided more interesting statistics. Fifty percent of the developers earn less than $50,000 annually, which is why 39% eventually leave the industry because they "want a better quality of life." The average developer works in the industry for nine years.

Additionally, when asked why they chose to work in the video games field, 41% mentioned they wanted to earn a living doing what they enjoy. That said, crunch time is an integral part of the game development workflow, and 38% state they are not even compensated for their extra time.

According to IGDA's executive director Kate Edwards, "The IGDA plans to use the results to better understand its members' priorities and the most critical issues affecting their overall satisfaction, and in turn use that information to help prioritize the association's advocacy efforts and initiatives."

Source: IGDA [http://www.igda.org/news/179158/Press-Release-IGDA-Developer-Satisfaction-Survey-results-are-released.htm]

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Esmeralda Portillo

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Chaosritter said:
"The survey found that the game development field is still dominated by males by 76%"

I can't help it, this sounds like a reproval. Like some qouta wasn't met or anything. Or are you disappointed the male-female-whatever ratio doesn't shift faster than it already does?
Edited to be less of a reproach.
 

Kameburger

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Although I am sure there aren't too many fans of mobile gaming here, I think that the number of new studios that have popped up around the mobile/indie trend have definitely played a big big role.

There are a lot more women in development in the mobile sphere, which I'm grateful for, Working in a company with all dudes would be kinda exhausting.
 

Baresark

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Eh, deleted. I apologize for taking the space. My momma raised me to not say anything if it's not nice.
 

Callate

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Um, good? I'm glad women are having a greater presence in the industry.

Though I can't help but wonder if the majority of developers are making under $50,000 a year, why the budgets for games continue to skyrocket. What are those above that margin making?
 

EvilRoy

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A much more interesting result, found in the report itself, is that of the individuals involved in game development who are leaving, 39.4% of them said that they had gotten fired, and didn't want to find another job in the industry.

Originally I had thought that when studios shut down or tightened up following a large game release, those people simply got re-shuffled into the mix, baring only the abjectly unemployable. However, there were less than 10% of those - the vast majority did games for a bit and moved on. In second place with 20% was "found a better paying job w/ better hours".

I'm curious to see if working conditions improve to attract employees back into the industry, or if there is a sustainable number of people funneling in to replace them to keep that from happening.

I will say though, I'm having a hard time pitying the crunch time bit. My crunch time runs around 65 hours a week, and my pay gets capped pretty early on in there. Although apparently an entry level position in my field gets paid better than their median, so I guess it's made up for elsewhere.
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

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and it's only going to increase, as time has shown. It's going to get to the point where we will have 50-50 or at least very close to it. Not that a lot of people will admit that

MarsAtlas said:
38% not compensated for their work in crunch-time is hopefully something people don't skip over while reading this. Crunch-time conditions are horrible enough as is, with people easily working sixty hour weeks, but not two-fifths of them not getting compensated is downright egregious. I know this type of thing has tanked studios before from legal issues, like Team Bondi being the most recent that comes to mind, but I didn't expect it to actually be that common.

Additionally, 50% making less than 50k doesn't sound all that great either, but I suppose the low pay exists because there seems that there's an excess of skilled workers, though I actually could be wrong about that.
Ah yes, the infamous working conditions. It's because the entire has adopted this kind of idea that games must be made similar to a factory-production line. Thus they throw as many people as them as they can to get product shipped out in a timely fashion. The entire structure is a mess with the people in charge clearly NOT having been prepared for how big of a shift gaming has undergone over the past generation. Thus you have a bunch of people who hire loads of workers temporarily and then get rid of them so they don't have to give salaries to a bunch of people doing nothing (because the guys in charge don't seem to get that they need to stagger releases as well as diversify so nobody is just sitting on their asses).

Gaming, if I remember right, has nearly DOUBLE the turnover of any other industry and because of that the rate of burnout is REALLY high. People either just quite the industry all together to use their programming degrees for related industries that are less exciting, but far more secure and with better benefits or they just form their own studios so they can be the masters of their own fates. What the industry needs is some stability as the current status quo is NOT one that should be a status quo in the first place.
 

Avaholic03

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Racecarlock said:
Cool. Can't wait to see what games they make.
Probably depends on how much creative control they have. Makes a big difference if they are "developer #148571" at Ubisoft, or opening their own indie studio to make the game they really want to make.
 

Lady Larunai

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Aiddon said:
and it's only going to increase, as time has shown. It's going to get to the point where we will have 50-50 or at least very close to it. Not that a lot of people will admit that
There are very few industries that will ever have 50/50 unless its forced upon them.
 

Epidemiix

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Callate said:
Um, good? I'm glad women are having a greater presence in the industry.

Though I can't help but wonder if the majority of developers are making under $50,000 a year, why the budgets for games continue to skyrocket. What are those above that margin making?
It is because of artists and designers. They get paid significantly less then other positions, such as a programmer, until they are either in a "lead" position, or have been in the industry and are known for great work.
This is mostly because of the large number of people coming into the industry from these backgrounds, while there is not enough positions open for all of them.

Most of the people above that margin are the leads and the programmers, who are making close to 70-100k a year.

Of course the higher ups make way way more...but I don't have number.
 

MeChaNiZ3D

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Aiddon said:
and it's only going to increase, as time has shown. It's going to get to the point where we will have 50-50 or at least very close to it. Not that a lot of people will admit that
As time has shown...with what, exactly? I'm of the persuasion that males and females trend towards different interests and thus that representation in any field of work will rarely be 50/50. You'll have to back that up if you're claiming it's something to 'admit' rather than 'believe'. Not that I'd care if it did, people should do what they like.
 

chikusho

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MeChaNiZ3D said:
Aiddon said:
and it's only going to increase, as time has shown. It's going to get to the point where we will have 50-50 or at least very close to it. Not that a lot of people will admit that
As time has shown...with what, exactly?
Probably the increasing gender equalization in every field.

I'm of the persuasion that males and females trend towards different interests and thus that representation in any field of work will rarely be 50/50. You'll have to back that up if you're claiming it's something to 'admit' rather than 'believe'. Not that I'd care if it did, people should do what they like.
With the slow erosion of gender roles, men and women probably won't trend toward gender specific interests as time goes on. At least not in any relevant capacity.
 

Lady Larunai

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chikusho said:
MeChaNiZ3D said:
Aiddon said:
and it's only going to increase, as time has shown. It's going to get to the point where we will have 50-50 or at least very close to it. Not that a lot of people will admit that
As time has shown...with what, exactly?
Probably the increasing gender equalization in every field.
Equalization still does not point to 50/50, flip a coin 100 times, equal opportunity does not mean equal outcomes.
 

chikusho

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racrevel said:
chikusho said:
MeChaNiZ3D said:
Aiddon said:
and it's only going to increase, as time has shown. It's going to get to the point where we will have 50-50 or at least very close to it. Not that a lot of people will admit that
As time has shown...with what, exactly?
Probably the increasing gender equalization in every field.
Equalization still does not point to 50/50, flip a coin 100 times, equal opportunity does not end in equal outcomes.
Well, as you can see in the original quote, "or close to it". Either way, it's not really a math question. Equal opportunity leads to a shift in perception for everyone, which in turn can increase interest in the minority group, which in turn increases the chances for a perfect split, given that there's enough talent to recruit and there are enough positions to fill.
 

Lotet

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racrevel said:
Aiddon said:
and it's only going to increase, as time has shown. It's going to get to the point where we will have 50-50 or at least very close to it. Not that a lot of people will admit that
There are very few industries that have 50/50.
I just turned your sentence so it wasn't a guess/assumption. But I don't feel like doing that to Aiddon as well :)