Gender Balance in the Gaming Industry

Well it comes pretty timely with the International Women’s day that has just passed that the chief development officer of NetEnt – Asa Bredin – have been rated by the renowned Swedish Financial magazine Veckans Affarer the 7th most powerful woman in the country’s digital space.

NetEnt’s Asa Bredin one of the most powerful women in Swedish tech industry.

Asa joined the company recently after being recruited from King. Ms. Bredin commented the event: “To achieve success within game development requires both creativity and a disciplined process. My role is to create conditions for our teams to succeed. I’m very proud and happy for the recognition!”

The CEO of the NetEnt, Per Eriksson, commented as well “It is good thing that strong and intelligent women are emphasized, as the need for more role models in the technology sector that can inspire other women is increasing. At NetEnt we’re confident that broadening the competence pool, at all levels, is the winning concept. We have set a goal to achieve a 50/50 gender balance by the year 2020. It is clear to us that gender balance and diversity delivers better results and increases innovation among employees.”

NetEnt are one of the few tech companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange that has already a 50/50 balanced management team. Recently (last week) they revealed that the company has been officially admitted to the WLA – World Lottery Association. The group of companies is committed to safe and responsible gaming.

The accomplishment of Asa Bredin as an event is extremely positive for women in the industry and companies such as NetEnt that act responsibly in order to establish and maintain gender equality in the gaming sector should not be left unnoticed. Only 22 per cent of people working in the industry are women, according to research published by the International Game Developers Association last year. At the same time the number of women playing games online is almost equal to men (data from the Entertainment Software Association stats). Girls as a rule a discouraged in pursuing careers in the tech sector. Sadly, stereotypes that engineering and math “are not for women” still live.

Elizabeth Sampat, a game designer at PopCap, one of the most successful game studios in the world, recently shared her struggles with an ethical dilemma. “I will no longer participate in encouraging young women and girls to become game industry professionals,” she wrote in a Facebook post that went viral “I will continue to fight tooth and nail for every woman who is currently here. But until the industry and gaming culture improves, it’s unethical.”

Elizabeth is by far not alone. Brianna Wu, who was at the center of the so called computer war on women – Gamergate summed it up nicely in a recent article published in The Guardian “ … we make games. They make internet comments. Who really has the power?”. And she’s right. So, let’s focus and get on with our lives fellow gamers and let the dogs bark.