Games Industry Failing Women

[wraggster]

Via Spong

EA’s chief operating officer for EA's worldwide studios, David Gardner, claimed that the videogame industry is continuing to fail women, at a speech given in Edinburgh yesterday.

Gardner told the assembled audience up in Scotland: "We have all been talking about this for a long, long time… We are only reaching a small proportion - not only geographically but also genetically.”

He stressed that the industry needs to "create some mega hits in the girl space."

Interestingly enough, what with yesterday's news that Sony is soon to be introducing a new pink PS2 and PSP, Gardner claimed that women don’t just want ‘pink’ games, noting that: "They are not trying to play girly games where Paris Hilton and Britney Spears go shopping and put make-up on. Those kind of things have not been that successful."

Instead, as an example of the type of game that women do want he held up the example of EA’s 40 million selling mega-buster The Sims, with over 70% of Sims players being women under 25.

"The Sims is really a game about relationships - and that's what girls want - they want relationships, they want to be able to chat." Gardner went on to outline his vision for developing these “mega hits in the girl space” he has in mind, which is simply for more companies to invest in better creative teams run by women.

“Four of our 11 studios around the world are run by women. That's an important start,” he declared.

So what’s driving Gardner’s concern with making better games to appeal to women? A feminist concern for equality? Not likely. No, it’s purely that old bottom-line. He claims that if EA were to solve this problem then they could add a billion dollars to sales.

Of course, Gardner isn't the first human to realise selling games to people with ovaries is a good idea, and there was a certain amount of awkward muttering of Nintendo's recent triumphs in the oestrogen arena, a factor the EA exec seemingly overlooked.

Indeed, Nintendo's recent financial positionings, aimed squarely at spiking investor confidence following a lengthy R&D phase and preceding a costly production and marketing drive, have been thickly applying the assertion that Nintendo has already cracked selling videogames to women.

Although most analysts find Nintendo's claims sit somewhere in between the over-egged and the slightly disingenuous, the fact stands that Nintendogs, Brain Training, Animal Crossing and Tetris have all found a welcome home in the handbags of women, especially in Japan.

In SPOnG's opinion, a good marketing push in women's consumer/lifesytle magazines from Just 17 through to Vogue in the US and Europe in the coming months could well successfully position a DS Lite equipped with Opera browsing software as the must have handbag gizmo this winter season, transcending most traditional age and income-bracket barriers.

[Video_freak]

Only one women in my life is attracted to video games (and she's not actually in my life I met her on a plane )

[Gene]

i kniow like 4 girls who play the sims. i guess they do like that stuff

[Sterist]

Via Spong

Gardner claimed that women don’t just want ‘pink’ games, noting that: "They are not trying to play girly games where Paris Hilton and Britney Spears go shopping and put make-up on. Those kind of things have not been that successful."

rofl!! we're discovering the new species

"what do they want? what do they like? whats their environment like? do they like food?"

[SnoopKatt]

They want a Gilmore Girls game with lots of snappy talking. That's the show that almost every girl I know watches.

[slayer2psp]

i dont know any woman who give a flying f**k about any games. my last girlfriend liked sonic and board games on a system like clue but thats about it. she could really care less

[muffinman]

i know girls who like video games. genereally it is the sims (a panzies game in my eyes), but alot of them play mario etc and some play counter strike and other fps.

you can't tell what women want

[10shu]

So what next?? game just for blacks, midget, or pedophil???why should they be game just for girl or guy...?!

here my girlfriend 5 fav games:

GTA san andreas
dead or alive4
super monkey ball
brain academy
dead rising

[ACID]

I have only nown one girl in my 30 years that liked video games. Actually she was a hard core gamer. But thats about all. Thats the reason i made a game room my wife doesnt like them.

[PShadow]

Forgot Harvest Moon. Trust me, my girlfriend's always hoggin the ps2 because of IT.