List of women in the video game industry
This is a list of notable women in the video game industry.
Notable women in the video game industry
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- Mabel Addis wrote and conducted the early mainframe game The Sumerian Game (1964), becoming the first video game writer and female video game designer.[1]
- Anna Anthropy, American video game designer who has worked on multiple indie games such as Mighty Jill Off and is the game designer in residence at the DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media.
- Dona Bailey, American game programmer who, along with Ed Logg in 1981, created the arcade video game Centipede.[2][3]
- Ellen Beeman, American fantasy and science fiction author, cofounder the industry group Women in Games International, and computer game designer/producer since the 1990s[4] Since 2014, she has been a faculty member at DigiPen Institute of Technology.[5] She is credited for development of over 40 video games, for publishers including Disney, Electronic Arts, Microprose, Microsoft, Monolith, Origin, and Sega.[6]
- Connie Booth, American business executive as Vice-President of Product Development at Sony Interactive Entertainment and advocate of many of SIE's first-party franchises since Crash Bandicoot.[7]
- Danielle Bunten Berry, American game designer and programmer, known for the 1983 game M.U.L.E. (one of the first influential multiplayer games), and 1984's The Seven Cities of Gold. She was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Computer Game Developers Association.[8]
- Ashly Burch, American voice actress
- Brie Code, former Ubisoft AI programming lead working on titles such as Child of Light, founder of TRU LUV, co-creator of #SelfCare, an Apple Best Of 2018. [9]
- Lori Cole, American game designer and writer. She and her husband Corey Cole are best known for the Quest for Glory adventure/roleplaying game series from Sierra Online. Other games she's worked on include Mixed-Up Fairy Tales (1991), Shannara (1995), the School for Heroes web game, and the Kickstarter-funded Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption (2018). [10]
- Christina "Phazero" Curlee, Black-American Game designer and researcher, featured at IndieCade, SAAM, and Eyeo Festival. Author of Meaningful Level Design. Currently a game designer at Insomniac Games.[11] [12]
- Keiko Erikawa is a Japanese video game designer and co-founder of Koei. She formed Ruby Party team by only women and then the team developed and released Angelique, the first Otome game, in 1994.[13][14]
- Rebecca Ford, American game developer and voice actress, serving as community manager for Digital Extremes' Warframe and colloquially known as "Space Mom".[15]
- Tracy Fullerton, American game designer, educator and writer.[16][17] Fullerton’s work has received numerous industry honors.[18]
- Emily Greer, cofounder and CEO of Kongregate.
- Jennifer Hale, voice actress best known for her work in video game franchises including Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, Metroid Prime, Metal Gear Solid, Soulcalibur, Spider-Man, BioShock Infinite, Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. In 2013, she was recognized by Guinness World Records for "the most prolific videogame voice actor (female)"
- Rebecca Heineman, American video game designer and programmer known for her work on The Bard's Tale, The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate and Myth III: The Wolf Age. Heineman is also considered the first national video game champion.[19]
- Amy Hennig, American video game director and script writer. Her writing creates include the Legacy of Kain series for Crystal Dynamics, and Jak and Daxter and Uncharted series for Naughty Dog.
- Miki Higashino, Japanese video game composer known for the Suikoden series.
- Robin Hunicke, producer of Journey and cofounder of Funomena.
- Emiko Iwasaki, artist and general director best known for her work on the Guilty Gear series, and Girls2Pioneers ambassador.
- Jane Jensen, video game designer most known of the popular and critically acclaimed Gabriel Knight series of adventure games
- Yoko Kanno, Japanese composer, arranger and musician[20]
- Junko Kawano, Japanese game designer, director, illustrator and writer best known as the co-creator of the Suikoden series and director of Shadow of Memories.
- Heather Kelley, media artist and video game designer, most famous as the founder of Perfect Plum, a start-up specializing for software for women. She is also a co-founder of the Kokoromi experimental game collective.[21]
- Rieko Kodama, artist, director, and producer known for her work on the Phantasy Star series and other Sega titles including Skies of Arcadia and the 7th Dragon series.[22]
- Christine Love, Canadian video game developer.
- Manami Matsumae, Japanese video game composer
- Carla Meninsky, video game designer during the early years of the Atari 2600
- Ikumi Nakamura, Japanese artist and director, formerly of Clover Studio, PlatinumGames, and Tango Gameworks, with credits including Ōkami, Bayonetta, and The Evil Within.[23]
- Zoë Quinn, developer of Depression Quest and subsequently a spokefigure against the harassment from the Gamergate controversy.[24]
- Jade Raymond, Canadian video game executive, founder of Electronic Arts' Motive Studios, head of Visceral Games, and former Managing Director of Ubisoft Toronto
- Siobhan Reddy, co-founder and studio director of Media Molecule, a video game development studio based in the United Kingdom, most famous for their debut title LittleBigPlanet. In 2009 she won the Production Award at the first ever Microsoft Women in Gaming Awards,[25] and at the same awards in 2014 she won the Innovator Award.[26][27]
- Brenda Romero, American game designer and developer notably of the Wizardry series.[28] She has won several awards in her long career.[29][30][31][32][33]
- Bonnie Ross, American video game developer and head of 343 Industries, the studio that manages the Halo video game franchise.
- Kellee Santiago, video game designer and producer. While studying at the USC Interactive Media Division at the University of Southern California, Santiago produced the game Cloud which was developed by Jenova Chen and a team of students. After graduating, Santiago and Chen founded Thatgamecompany, and Santiago took on the role of president. Santiago left Thatgamecompany in 2012. She is a backer for the Indie Fund, a TED fellow, and the head of developer relations for OUYA.[34]
- Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon, South Korean esport professional and first female player signed into the Overwatch League.
- Carol Shaw, the first woman who was a full-time video game designer. She began as an Atari employee, designing and programming 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe (1979) for the Atari 2600.[35] Shaw later joined Activision where she designed Happy Trails for the Intellivision and River Raid for the Atari 800 and Atari 5200 for which she is most widely known. Additionally, she designed an unreleased Polo game in 1978 and worked on the game Super Breakout.[36]
- Kazuko Shibuya, Japanese video game artist known for her work with Square and Square Enix
- Yoko Shimomura, Japanese video game composer and pianist who has composed or contributed to nearly one hundred video game soundtracks.
- Joelle Silverio, African-American video game designer, software engineer, animator, and visual effects artist.[37][38][39] She is best known for her work as game designer on Killing Floor 2 for Tripwire Interactive.[40][41][42] Silverio began her career with Hi-Rez Studios and CCP Games, working on Global Agenda, Tribes: Ascend, SMITE, EVE Online, and World of Darkness.[43][44][45]
- Kim Swift, American video game designer best known for her work at Valve with games such as Portal and Left 4 Dead.[46] Swift was featured by Fortune as one of "30 Under 30" influential figures in the video game industry.[47] She was described in Mental Floss as one of the most recognized women in the industry[46] and by WIRED as "an artist that will push the medium forward".[47]
- Muriel Tramis, director of adventure games at Coktel Vision and recipient of France's Legion of Honour.[48]
- Joyce Weisbecker, first woman to design commercial video games, creating several games for the RCA Studio II console in 1976.[49]
- Roberta Williams, American video game designer and writer and a co-founder of Sierra On-Line (later known as Sierra Entertainment). She is known for her pioneering work in the field of graphic adventure games, with titles such as Mystery House, the King's Quest series, and Phantasmagoria, and is viewed as one of the most influential PC game designers of the eighties and nineties.[50] She has been credited with creating the graphic adventure genre.[51]
- Brianna Wu, game developer and co-founder of Giant Spacecat, and, in wake of the Gamergate controversy, has entered into politics to try to address issues raised during Gamergate.[24]
- Michiru Yamane, Japanese video game composer known for her work with Konami and the Castlevania series.[52]
- Corrinne Yu, American game programmer who started her career with the King's Quest series for the Apple II. Yu wrote the original engine for the Spec Ops series, and was a founding member of Microsoft's Direct 3D Advisory Board.
References
- ^ Willaert, Kate (2019-09-09). "The Sumerian Game: The Most Important Video Game You've Never Heard Of". A Critical Hit. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
- ^ Krueger, Anne (March 1983). "Welcome to the Club". Video Games. 1 (6): 51–54, 81. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
- ^ Ortutay, Barbara (30 June 2012). "Woman behind 'Centipede' recalls game icon's birth". Yahoo! Finance. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014.
- ^ Kristin Kalning (June 12, 2007), Wanted: Girls who Make Video Games, NBC News
- ^ Professor Ellen Beeman Draws From Game Production Career, DigiPen Institute of Technology, July 24, 2014
- ^ "Profile: Ellen Beeman", MobyGames, January 25, 2007
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (January 14, 2020). "Gaming Hall Of Fame Announces This Year's Inductee, Connie Booth". GameSpot. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
- ^ "Danielle Bunten Berry (1949–1998)". The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
- ^ https://www.apple.com/ca/newsroom/2018/12/apple-presents-the-best-of-2018/
- ^ "Profile: Lori Cole", MobyGames, retrieved October 30, 2019
- ^ http://www.christinazero.com/eyeo-festival.html
- ^ https://www.indiecade.com/2018-games/artifacts-ii-jacaranda/
- ^ Kim, Hyeshin (2009). "Women's Games in Japan: Gendered Identity and Narrative Construction". Theory, Culture & Society. 26 (2–3). SAGE Publications: 165–188. doi:10.1177/0263276409103132. ISSN 0263-2764.
- ^ 信長から乙女ゲームまで… シブサワ･コウとその妻が語るコーエー立志伝 「世界初ばかりだとユーザーに怒られた（笑）」 (in Japanese) DWANGO March 22, 2016
- ^ "Forbes 30 Under 30 2020 - Games: Leading a technological and artistic revolution". Forbes. December 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
- ^ https://news.usc.edu/63108/tracy-fullerton-named-director-of-usc-games/
- ^ USC professor Tracy Fullerton is getting $100,000 from the NEH to design a game based on Thoreau's Walden, LA Times, Dec. 9, 2014
- ^ 10 Powerful Women in Videogames, Fortune.com, September 23, 2014
- ^ Marie, Meagan (December 4, 2018). Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play. Dorling Kindersley. pp. 32–33. ISBN 9780241395066.
- ^ Bridges, Rose (2017). Yoko Kanno's Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 978-1501325878. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ^ "Meet the 5 Most Powerful Women in Gaming". Inc.com. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ "Power Profiles: Rieko Kodama". Nintendo Power. No. 251. February 2010. pp. 80–82.
- ^ Hernandez, Patricia (June 9, 2019). "The internet is ready to die for Ikumi Nakamura, the most genuine person at E3". Polygon. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
- ^ a b Warzel, Charlie (August 15, 2019). "How an Online Mob Created a Playbook for a Culture War". The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
- ^ "Microsoft Recognizes Game Industry Women". Edge. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ "Anita Sarkeesian, more up for nominations at Women in Gaming Awards". Gamasutra. 19 March 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ "The Women of Microsoft's Women In Gaming Awards". The Daily Geekette. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ "Celebrating Female Game Devs of Yesteryear". Archived from the original on 30 October 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
The longest-serving female game developer in the business will also be attending the WIGI Conference. Brenda Brathwaite...
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Bio Awards".
- ^ "Computer Gaming World Announces Winners of 2001 'Premier Awards". Archived from the original on 2018-01-28. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
- ^ "Minister for Education and Skills welcomes gaming super star Brenda Romero to Ireland". 28 August 2014.
- ^ "15th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards".
- ^ "Brenda and John Romero to be named development legends at Develop Awards 2017".
- ^ "TED Fellow, Game Developer, Partner At Indie Fund". Kelleesantiago.com. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
- ^ "The Most Important Women in the History of Video Games – About Classic Video Games". Classicgames.about.com. Retrieved 2015-04-09.
- ^ "VC&G | VC&G Interview: Carol Shaw, The First Female Video Game Developer". Vintagecomputing.com. 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2015-04-09.
- ^ "WIT FORUM: Entertainment Industry: Innovation and Trends". Women In Technology. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ "Judging Panel". IGDA Foundation. 2016-09-11. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ "Joelle Silverio's schedule for Blacks in Tech #BiTHouse @SXSW". bit.sched.com. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ "Tripwire Interactive". Killing Floor 2 Wiki. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ "Killing Floor 2 (2015) Windows credits". MobyGames. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ "Killing Floor 2", Wikipedia, 2019-10-17, retrieved 2019-12-12
- ^ Howard Pousner, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Museum of Design exhibit, talk shows women's touch on video games". ajc. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ "Atlanta Girl Geek Dinners". Atlanta Girl Geek Dinners. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ "Design Conversation – Women in Gaming Panel Discussion". Midtown, GA Patch. 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
- ^ a b Erbland, Kate (October 14, 2013). "Kim Swift, the Woman Behind Portal". Mental Floss. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
- ^ a b "Games That Changed Everything: The Most Wired Games of the Generation". WIRED. November 21, 2013. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
- ^ Kerr, Chris (July 18, 2018). "French game designer Muriel Tramis awarded Legion of Honor". Gamasutra. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
- ^ Edwards, Benj (2017-10-27). "Rediscovering History's Lost First Female Video Game Designer". Fast Company. Retrieved 2017-10-27.
- ^ "Computer Gaming World – Hall of Fame". Computer Gaming World. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
- ^ Jong, Philip (July 16, 2006). "Roberta Williams Interview". Adventure Classic Gaming. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
- ^ Parrish, Jeremy (October 30, 2012). "Catching Up With Castlevania Composer Michiru Yamane, Pt. 1". 1Up.com. Archived from the original on June 25, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2018.