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List of women in the video game industry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of notable women in the video game industry.


A

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  • Tina Amini - IGN editor-in-chief.[2]

B

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  • Ellen Beeman - American fantasy and science fiction author, cofounder the industry group Women in Games International, and computer game designer/producer since the 1990s.[5] Since 2014, she has been a faculty member at DigiPen Institute of Technology.[6]
  • Mattie Brice - American video game designer, critic, and industry activist.

C

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  • Vicky Carne - Founder of Mosaic Publishing. She previously worked for Haymarket and Sinclar Brown.[9]
  • Jenna Chalmers - Designer known for working with Will Wight. Recipient of WIG Achievement in Game Design. Currently, Lead Designer at Gallium Studios.
Lori Ann Cole (AI-upscaled image)

D

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E

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F

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  • Rebecca Ford - Canadian game developer and voice actress, serving as director for Digital Extremes' Warframe and colloquially known as "Space Mom".[17]
  • Megan Fox - Founder of Glass Bottom Games.[2]
Tracy Fullerton


G

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H

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Amy Hennig
  • Keisha Howard - Founder of Sugar Gamers.[2]

I

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  • Marija Ilić - Co-founder of Two Desperados - a Serbian game developer and President of the Board at Serbian Games Association. Featured as one of the "100 Game Changers" selected by gamesindusty.biz. [22]
  • Emiko Iwasaki - Artist and general director best known for her work on the Guilty Gear series, and Girls2Pioneers ambassador.

J

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  • Jane Jensen - Video game designer most known of the popular and critically acclaimed Gabriel Knight series of adventure games.

K

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Yoko Kanno
Heather Kelley
  • Heather Kelley - Media artist, video game designer, curator, and educator. Best known for creating sexual pleasure software for women, experimental games, and sensory and somatic interaction in games. Co-curated the exhibition Joue le Jeu, and was a co-founder of experimental video game collective Kokoromi.[24]

L

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  • Nicole Lazzaro - Founder of XEOPlay and XEODesign.[2]

M

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  • Van Mai (nee Tran) - Developer of Wabbit (1982), the first console video game to feature a female protagonist.[27]
  • Carla Meninsky - Video game designer during the early years of the Atari 2600.

N

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  • Nika Nour - Executive director of IGDA.[2]

O

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P

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Q

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R

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Siobhan Reddy
  • Veronica Ripley - Founder of Transmission Gaming.[2]

S

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Kellee Santiago
  • Yoko Shimomura - Japanese video game composer and pianist who has composed or contributed to nearly one hundred video game soundtracks.
Kim Swift
  • Kim Swift - American video game designer best known for her work at Valve with games such as Portal and Left 4 Dead.[50] Swift was featured by Fortune as one of "30 Under 30" influential figures in the video game industry.[51] She was described in Mental Floss as one of the most recognized women in the industry[50] and by WIRED as "an artist that will push the medium forward".[51]

T

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  • Pauliina Tornqvist - Finnish video game producer known for her work at Activision, Ubisoft and other publishers, on gaming franchises such as Call of Duty, Watchdogs, Trials, Angry Birds, and Travian. Tornqvist started her career by founding her own mobile game studio only at the age of 20, before continuing to work across Europe and US on multiple AAA productions - while advocating in podcasts, industry panels, and schools for diversity and equity in the video game industry.[55]

U

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V

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W

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  • Brianna Wu - Game developer and co-founder of Giant Spacecat, and, in wake of the Gamergate controversy, entered into politics to try to address issues raised during Gamergate.[60]

X

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Y

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  • 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.

Z

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References

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  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Spiegelman, Karen (March 2, 2020). "20 women in gaming you should know". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  3. ^ Krueger, Anne (March 1983). "Welcome to the Club". Video Games. pp. 51–54, 81. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
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  27. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (May 13, 2022). "A female video game pioneer was lost to history — until now". Polygon. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  28. ^ Bonifacic, Igor (July 29, 2021). "'Sound Shapes' creator Jessica Mak is making a game with Annapurna Interactive". Engadget. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
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