What keeps women away from game development?

There’s much talk of the gaming demographic being now wider than ever, encompassing young and old, male and female – but the development demographic is still massively male.

But if we’re to develop games that appeal equally to different sexes, those different voices also need to be heard in the development process. So thinks Brighton-based Zoë Mode, anyway, as it sets out to be the world specialist of social and party-gaming.

Writing in a piece for Develop, the studio’s operations and marketing director Angela Fenge said: "For many people there remains a perception of the games industry as a boys club, gaming being something that women just ‘don’t do’."

"While for a long time that was largely true, gaming is unquestionably hitting the mainstream now and we believe that for us to make the best games for our target audience, we need to be like our target audience."

It believes that this perception, alongside the industry’s reputation of poorly handling the work/life balance of its staff, is holding women back from wanting to join the industry, and is working with universities and events such as 4Dare to promote the industry to female students.

For more on Zoë Mode’s efforts to attract female staff, check out the full article.