Female Gamers: Excluded or just not Interested

E3 2017 brought in major hype for the upcoming video games that year. Companies pulling all the stops bring the love of their creations to its players. This however has brought forth major conflict that is splitting the video game community. According to an analysis done on E3 2017, the game chosen was most likely centered around a male protagonist. 

“I think it’s because women are simply not into video games the way guys are.” Melanie Lange, a dedicated video gamer, said. “Video games have often been a ‘guys’ hobby. It’s only until recently that we’ve seen women being involved in gaming, like myself.
Some, however, believe the video game industry is excluding one of its largest player base, female gamers. According to an article posted by Engadget, at E3 2017, of the 109 games  were announced, only 7 of them starred a female protagonist. While this was a bigger jump in female-centered games than 2016, it is less than the number of games in 2015. Video games and diversity is often a talking point among the industry. As a company, publishing a game that includes most if not all the community is the best practice to maximize revenue. 

“Let’s look at the actual numbers so we can actually improve.”  Anita Sarkeesian, the founder of Feminist Frequency, said on the Engadget stage at E3 2017.

It could be argued, however, that the video game industry is merely tailoring the content to its audience to the larger, more engaged audience. According to a statistic taken from Statista, in 2017 59% percent of all gamers in the United States were men. Men accounting for majority of gamers in the United States is the case since 2006; with the 48% percent of the gamers being women in 2014.