MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
This article was created in collaboration with Facebook Gaming.
In the last 12 months, how and why we play games has shifted drastically. As our recent report Games Marketing Insights for 2021 has shown, there were more gamers in 2020 than ever before, with huge numbers of women among those discovering and rediscovering a love of games.
Newzoo’s Consumer Insights, Games and Esports report paints an interesting picture about how many women are playing games and why they play. They looked at 32 markets to get a better understanding of women’s gaming habits. We’ve broken down some of the key learnings from this. research.
65% of women globally play games
As of 2020, 47% of the world’s total gamers, and 48% of mobile gamers specifically are female. The main reasons women play games are: to fill time, for escapism, and to complete objectives, but their interest in gaming doesn’t start and end with games themselves. 42% of the women (of the total internet population) watch content about video games as well.
The role of community is growing
Community has become an important factor in gaming over the last year, with more people than ever looking to games as a way to stay connected and entertained. Since 2018, Newzoo has witnessed a 10% increase in female gamers visiting gaming community websites weekly.
The number of female mobile gamers is growing
As female gaming audiences tend to enjoy casual games, and use gaming to fill time, it’s no surprise that the number of female mobile gamers has grown every year since 2016. In 2016 53% of women globally played mobile games, this increased to 61% in 2020, Newzoo reported.
Join us throughout Women’s History Month
To celebrate the women who are breaking new ground in the gaming industry, we’ve planned a series of digital events throughout March. We want to share their amazing stories, and help to inspire a new generation of women to take their seat at the table.
There’s plenty to be excited about whether you’re a gamer, working in the industry, or hoping to get started, there’s something for everyone. We hope to see you there.
International Women’s Day
To celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, we’ll be releasing a very special sizzle video which brings together and introduces some of our amazing female creators.
We also invite you to join our virtual meet up with female industry leaders – Tammy Tang chief executive of FSL and Cherry Xia, VP of Moonton, along with other APAC female creators like Alodia Gosiengfiao, MissRose Gaming, Chopstix, Tran Khai My, ViruSs, Deerlong and Cantika Gaming as they discuss their road to success in the gaming industry.
Empowering connections: Spotlight Stories
Follow Facebook Gaming on Instagram to access weekly Stories content featuring women in the games industry.
March 4, Jay-Ann Lopez: Jay-Ann is a Leadership Sourcer at Facebook, and the founder of Black Girl Gamers, which began as a Facebook group, and now has a community of around 50,000 followers over Twitch, Twitter and Instagram.
March 11, Rebecca Harwick: Rebecca is a writer and narrative designer in the AAA and mobile game space. She is head of writing at Wooga, and leads writing teams to create compelling character- and story-driven casual mobile games.
March 18, Verta Moloney: Verta is the manager of The GameHERs Awards, and runs a business helping individuals and organizations share their racial autobiographies and stories in order to act on and undo racism.
March 25, Gwen Guo: Gwen is the Chair of the Singapore Gaming Association, and one of 3 co-founders of Imba Interactive, a Singapore-based studio that provides end-to-end audio solutions for video games and other media.
Creator Stories Video Series
To celebrate Women’s Heritage Month we are launching a global video series that celebrates female gaming creators on Facebook Gaming. This series will dive into empowering stories from female gamers who have transformed their love for gaming into a successful career.
March 8, Malena0202: Malena is one of the first and largest female video creators from Brazil. To empower women and show that support exists, she joined a project called “My Game My Name” as an ambassador and aims to tackle the stigma around females using gender neutral or male usernames to avoid harassment.
March 15, Patty Meza: At a young age, Patty Meza was constantly reminded that video games are for boys. Despite the discouragements, Patty followed her passion and over the years, built a large community and successful career on Facebook Gaming.
March 22, Luure: Luure is a popular female gaming video creator in Poland who started streaming at a young age with a 9 month old baby. Since joining Facebook Gaming, she’s built a large community of supporters and a successful streaming career.
Articles throughout March
• Visit fb.gg/marketers on March 3rd for an interview blog focusing on the amazing women from our Empowering Connections Stories.
• Check out fb.gg/creators throughout March for a series of blogs dedicated to Women’s History Month creator video spotlights, focusing on our creators empowering stories, in addition to hearing first hand, advice on how to become a successful streamer.
• Visit facebook.com/audiencenetwork on March 24th for a Q&A with female publishers discussing how they find connections through community in gaming and working in the industry.
Intersectional Ally Series – March 11th
Join us for a panel discussion on the impact and importance of community for women in the games industry. This will be a live conversation between creators and female leaders in APAC and EMEA, moderated by Sandhya Devanathan, Director of Gaming, APAC at Facebook.
