Half of Players in the U.S and U.K Want More Diverse Characters in Games; Gamers From These Markets Want Publishers to Take a Stance on Societal Issues
In the past, game developers and publishers almost exclusively catered to men, often overlooking women, ethnic minorities, the LGBTQIA+ community, and people with disabilities.
While the market has come a long way since then, the games business still has challenges to overcome in terms of inclusion and representation. That’s why we recently launched our Gamer Sentiment Study on Diversity and Inclusion.
The study is already helping the biggest game publishers understand behavior, motivation, and sentiment, identify opportunities to make games more inclusive, and access motivations outside of gaming.
In this article, we’ll present some high-level findings from the study, which is based on quantitative and qualitative research among over 4,000 gamers across the U.S and U.K.
Gamers Are Incredibly Diverse in Terms of Gender, Ethnicity, Sexuality & More
Earlier this year, we dispelled the myth that most gamers are young, unemployed males. And our Gamer Sentiment Study on Diversity & Inclusion highlights just how diverse game enthusiasts are.
The study shows that a significant share of gamers identify as:
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Women: 45% across the U.S. and U.K.
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LGBQ+: 13% in the U.S. and 14% in the U.K.
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Disabled (including mental health or mobility): 30% in the U.S. and 20% in the U.K.
What’s more, a third of U.S. gamers are black, Hispanic, or Asian, while 13% of gamers in the U.K belong to an ethnic-minority group.
Representation in Games: Most Gamers Feel There Is Room for Improvement
While many respondents felt that the games market is improving in terms of representation, the majority feel that games could and should be more diverse and inclusive.
As you can see in the image above, around half of respondents expressed it’s important for the games they play to have diverse characters—a sentiment that was especially present among LGBQ+ respondents, those with disabilities, and those who identify as transgender or non-binary.
What’s more, a significant share of respondents (around 45%) said they didn’t play certain games because they felt like they weren’t made for them. In the survey, we asked respondents why this might be the case. Responses included:
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‘’It’s male dominated and designed for male minds’’ – straight Caucasian women (age 41) talking about a FPS title.
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‘’ The protagonists of the game tend to be dominated by males and the online gaming community of this franchise tends to follow suit.” – straight Asian female (age 28) talking about an adventure title.
Vitally, around a third of respondents claim that they prefer to play as characters who resemble themselves, meaning companies are missing opportunities by accommodating to just one group.
For example, many LGBQ+ gamers feel that the representation of sexual orientations for game characters is non-existent or not represented well, meaning there may especially be room for improvement here.
The full study dives deeper into how respondents feel about the representation of certain groups (race/ethnicity, gender, sexual identity and more).
Players Want Games Companies to Take a Stance on Societal Issues
A significant share of gamers in the U.K. and the U.S. feel game companies should take a stance on societal issues, irrespective of the respondent’s race, gender identity, sexual orientation, or having a disability.
Almost half of U.S.- and U.K.-based gamers feel they’re likelier to play games from publishers that take an active stance. We asked respondents why it’s important for companies to take a stance. Below are just a few responses:
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‘’Seeing game companies paying attention to social movements lets me know they are listening.” (Straight Asian female – age 26)
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So we know that the game supports the rights of its players and wants change too (Straight black male.’’ – age 19)
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“They have a broad reach into society, and they create worlds and characters that can represent so much more than they currently do.’’ (LGBQ+ Caucasian female with a disability – age 22)
While sitting on the fence for certain issues may seem like the safer option for publishers, taking an active stance may lead to increased engagement in the West.
Accessibility Options in Games Are Improving
So many games companies are striving to make games more accessible, with games like The Last of Us Part 2 and input like the Xbox Adaptive Controller helping disabled gamers across the world. Companies’ efforts have not gone unnoticed.
Around 56% of disabled gamers in the U.S. believe accessibility for players with disabilities has significantly improved. However, many respondents expressed that there is room for improvement in the representation of people with disabilities in games.
All in all, the market has made some heartening steps forward over the past few years, publishers understand that there is much work to be done.
We’re helping them get there with our Gamer Sentiment Study on Diversity and Inclusion. The study is already helping most prominent companies work toward a more inclusive games market—while also catering to the needs of diverse and underrepresented groups.