Hit your local software retailer, and you may be surprised by the number of games clearly targeted at a female audience – a major positive for a field that’s long been too one-sided in catering to male tastes. Just one problem: Most either take the form of fitness programs, spin-offs of popular yet vapid TV shows or are strictly targeted at audiences age 12 or under. Intrigued as to whether or not game developers are really designing with women in mind, or merely attempting to market to a wider audience while inadvertently reinforcing old stereotypes, we put the question to a number of gaming experts and insiders. Penned a ways back, Popular Science article Girls Just Want to Have Fun still resonates – much to many’s chagrin, we might add. Three cheers for forward progress!
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Scott Steinberg is the CEO of video game consulting firm TechSavvy Global, and founder of GameExec magazine and Game Industry TV. Hailed as a top technology and video game expert by dozens of publications from USA Today to Forbes and NPR, he’s covered the field for 400+ outlets from Playboy to Rolling Stone. A frequent on-air analyst for networks like ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, he’s also the author of Video Game Marketing and PR.