At ANIQ, we build games, but we’re also building an industry we want more people to feel at home in.
Right now, that’s still not the reality for many women who love games but don’t yet see themselves making them.
This article is our open invitation to women (and everyone who has felt “gaming isn’t for people like me”) to get involved in game development – as artists, programmers, designers, producers, writers, QA, marketers and studio leaders.
The numbers: women play games, but rarely make them
Across Europe, tens of millions of women play video games. In 2022, almost 60 million women in Europe were active players.
- In 2020, women made up about 22% of the European video game workforce. European Parliament - By 2022–2023, that share increased only slightly, to around 23.7–24.4%. - Recent data for 2024 suggests women are still at roughly a quarter of the workforce, despite overall industry growth.
Women are nearly half of the player base in many markets, but only about a quarter of the people employed to create those games.
If we zoom in on development globally, the IGDA Developer Satisfaction Survey shows that around 31% of game developers identify as women, with a growing share of non-binary and gender-diverse creators.
Why it matters: better games, better teams, better business
This is not only a fairness issue. It’s a quality and performance issue.
Research across sectors shows that diverse teams are more innovative and perform better:
Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity in leadership are significantly more likely (around 20–40%) to financially outperform their less diverse peers.Studies on diverse teams show higher innovation revenue and more creative problem-solving – one review links diverse teams with around 19% higher innovation-related revenue and substantially better decision-making.Reviews of team diversity and creativity consistently find that deeper diversity in perspectives improves idea generation and innovation when organisations know how to support it.
What ANIQ wants to build
As a growing studio, ANIQ is small enough to change fast and big enough to make that change matter.
Our vision is a game-development environment where women are not an exception, but a visible, normal part of every team and every decision-making level.
Actively encouraging women to apply
We want women in all roles: engineering, game design, art, narrative, production, QA, marketing, community and leadership. If you’re unsure whether you “tick every box”, we still want to hear from you.
Creating entry points into the industry
Through internships, trainee positions, mentorship and collaborations with schools and universities, we want to make it easier for women to get that crucial first step into game development.
Supporting growth, not just hiring
We care about who gets access to training, who is invited into strategic meetings and who is considered for leadership roles. Inclusion means looking at the entire career path, not just the entry door.
The message from all this data is clear: Women are already a huge part of gaming culture, but they’re still under-represented where decisions are made.