Former Burnout producer: we need more women in gaming industry

Let’s play a little association game. When I say “men in video game development,” whose names come first to mind? Kojima? Jaffe? Miyamoto? The list goes on. Now how about if I say “women in video games development?” You probably thought of Jade Raymond then… blank. Kind of imbalanced ain’t it? That was the point of Emily Newton-Dunn, former producer of the Burnout series. She remarks that there is a gender imbalance in the industry and that there should be more women making games. Full story after the “read more” link below.

While more and more games are now being developed for girl gamers (mostly thanks to the Wii and the DS), we still can’t deny that there’s a gender imbalance when it comes to the video game population. The same is also true for the people behind the scenes.

When you think of men in the video game industry, the list can go on and on. There are Hideo Kojima, David Jaffe, Tomonobu Itagaki, and on and on. But when it comes to women in the industry, most would think of Jade Raymond, and then… blank.

This issue was addressed by Emily Newton-Dunn, a former producer of the Burnout series and is currently with EA, working on the Harry Potter series. Her thoughts can be summed up when she said: “itÂ’s crazy that we donÂ’t have more women making games.”

At the Birds Eye View Film Festival in London, she was part of the panel of the Women in Games discussion. She remarks that there is a misconception that the games industry is “for males, and by males.” Take note, ladies:

Personally I donÂ’t think you have to be a woman to make great games for women, but I think that sometimes women might bring a different sensibility to the table which will enhance or make games more appealing to women.

[…] Like in any other creative media the more diversity you can attract or the more you personally go out and do different things and see other stuff the more youÂ’re going to bring back to your job.

I think if games were only ever made by one type of person youÂ’d get really boring games. You need to bring in some different cultures, different people, different sexes and different interests, otherwise youÂ’re just going to be churning out the same stuff again and again.

There is also a financial aspect to this, which was discussed as the panel went on. By failing to fully tap into the market of female gamers, the industry is missing out on “a sizeable amount of revenue.” To read more on the panel discussion, follow the link below.

Via Next Generation