To mark International Women’s Day we reached out to the games industry to secure a snapshot of the women working in across games today. From founders to artists, game designers to CEOs there’s opinion and insight from every part of what makes games great.
Here are their stories, their advice for anyone hoping to follow in their footsteps and, most importantly, the areas and aspects within the workplace and the industry that still require change.
Here’s part one.
Sophie Vo, founder, Rise & Play
What do you enjoy most about working within video games?
The rules of the game are reshuffled permanently. It’s a fast-moving industry, and you don’t see the same single winners every few years as the market has been expanding to new platforms or audiences over the past decade. What makes it exciting for me is that there are always new challenging opportunities and problems to solve (i.e., how to distribute games more effectively? How to build profitable scalable game businesses? How to better serve global audiences?), and I just love to solve those complex human-business problems with a team!
Impactful changes start with the leadership.
Sophie Vo
What advice would you offer to others who are looking to pursue a career in the video games industry?
Networking! Knowing the right people who can give you the opportunity for your next job or funding is crucial. While growing your skills is important, networking is even more important. Invest in building relationships, go meet well-connected people at events, and share what you do and where you want to go.
What do you think as an industry we can do better to make a more inclusive and safe space?
Impactful changes start with the leadership. By having more diversity at the leadership of companies (C-suite level) and on the investment side (General Partner level), we will see different winning team profiles emerging, and different games being distributed to a wider audience. Games are now a global business, developers trying to reach a global audience should also reflect that global lens in the teams who are making/funding those games.
Drussila Hollanda, game veteran, entrepreneur and founder & chair of Hive Helsinki
How did you get started in the games industry?
This year I’ve celebrated 20 years in the games industry! I started my career in Brazil as a Trainee Game Artist, in a local game company called Jynx Playware. At the time, there was no such thing as game education or senior talent. Companies had no choice but to find and develop raw talent. Enters me…
I was a Design Bachelor student in university, when my online portfolio led me to a job interview. I knew absolutely nothing about making games, only that I loved to play them. Lucky for me, they were working on a game inspired by The Sims – my favorite game then. As a test, they asked me to paint the skin texture for a 3D character model. It was convenient for me, since I was no stranger to creating sims mods in my spare time.
I moved to Finland in 2006, to join a mobile game company called Digital Chocolate. It was a big shock to me: -20C aside, that company’s level of professionalism was way above my level of experience! Fortunately, I had great peers that helped me develop my skills and confidence. A supportive and inclusive environment can go a long way in setting up individuals for success. In Dchoc I released games such as Kamikaze Robots and my favorite: My Pet Shop. I remember fighting to get that project because… PETS!
My journey continued onto great companies like Rovio, Wooga and Supercell. I eventually grew into leadership roles, such as Game Lead (Monster World, Hay Day) and later on CEO of a company I founded in 2020 (Papukaya) and which I closed last year. At Supercell, I also founded a new kind of coding school in Finland (Hive Helsinki) which bridges the gap between untapped diverse talent with the increasing demand of highly-skilled coders across all industries.
Just don’t stay still waiting until you’re “ready”.
Drussila Hollanda
What do you enjoy most about working within video games?
Here’s the thing though: titles never mattered to me. I’m driven by the impact I want to have, what I want to learn and the people I want to work with. At heart, I see myself as a curious problem-solver and a doer, who’s passionate about creating games for broad audiences and DEI. Understanding my core values and interests helps me stay on track, no matter what I end up doing.
In hindsight, what I’m most proud of is that I’ve dared to try many things that made me uncomfortable, and grew from all those experiences. For every success, I’ve had many failures. And that’s okay, that’s how you learn and move forward.
What advice would you offer to others who are looking to pursue a career in the video games industry?
Keep moving, even when you’re unsure. Research companies, industry events and courses in your region or online. Outline some kind of direction to aim at: companies / roles / types of games that interest you. Develop the skill set and a portfolio that supports those interests. Network with industry professionals to get advice and fine-tune your direction. Seek opportunities, apply and grow from the feedback. Just don’t stay still waiting until you’re “ready”. What I love about the games industry is that we’re never “ready” – even after 20 years!
Maria Kochmola co-founder and managing partner at The Games Fund
How did you get started in games?
Since my childhood, and to this day, I have been a hardcore gamer and obsessed with video games. I chose finance and corporate management as my career path, working for management consulting and VC/PE industries. In 2017, I got a chance to combine my two passions when we started MGVC, one of the first institutional gaming investors in the world, and I stepped in as an Investment Director. We designed and executed the innovative investment strategy and funded many talented game developers who ultimately built a lot of value for the corporation.
Now, leading The Games Fund, I am blessed to be working with the brightest and most ambitious minds in the industry, helping them to shape the future of video games.
There should be more examples of underrepresented groups in the video game industry.
Maria Kochmola
What do you enjoy most about working within video games?
It is so exciting to see the gaming industry rapidly evolving from a niche hobby to a mass culture
phenomenon. It is always great to work with what you love, but it is a fantastic feeling when your passion actually has an economic and social impact on the world. The video games industry is at the frontier of technology and design, but most importantly video games are universal entertainment. People from all around the world, regardless of their age, status, wealth, or background, can enjoy video games, and this is truly one of the most democratic forms of entertainment. From gamers in rural Eastern Europe, my home region, to Elon Musk playing Elden Ring.
What advice would you offer to others who are looking to pursue a career in the video games industry?
There is always turbulence in the world, and many would say that now is not the best time to enter the video game industry. But the truth is, there’s never an ideal time or conditions, and if it’s something you’re really interested in, you shouldn’t delay and just go for it.
Modern technologies and educational content available virtually for free allow even small teams to create exciting and successful games that people from all around the world enjoy. All of this significantly lowers the barriers to entry into the industry, if not as an employee of a big-name studio, then as an indie developer and a founder. Now is the time.
What do you think as an industry we can do better to make a more inclusive and safe space?
Business people are typically the ones that take the stage, but we should also see and hear the actual developers. This is not limited to their expert domain of network optimization and level design but also includes their general experience and career development and their vision for the future of the video game industry.
Secondly, we need to listen to the audience to work closely with them. We should see them not just as economic counterparts but as partners. I particularly admire dev blogs and discord servers where developers talk directly with players. We should also address the significant disproportion in the industry’s male and female employees. What actually concerns me is that we also see a drastic disproportion in job applications. Sadly, women do not see opportunities in the games industry.
There should be more examples of underrepresented groups in the video game industry to motivate people to inspire their peers through their achievements and stewardship.
What is something that you are really proud to have accomplished?
Building something from scratch is both incredibly difficult and fulfilling. I am proud of what we achieved so far with The Games Fund. Together with my partners, we launched TGF in 2021, making over 40 investors believe in us. You can imagine how much skepticism and rejection we overcame to get there.
We just keep pushing. Last year TGF was recognized as one of the most active gaming VC funds globally for three consecutive years. Many leading gaming founders and investors, including people and companies who were our icons, now want to work with us because we share the same business values, taste for games, and, last but not least – the vibe. This is what keeps me going.
Gina Jackson, founder, SKILLfull
How did you get started in games?
I started in games in 1992 working for a small developer in North London doing SNES and Gameboy games. I had studied programming graphics renderers and was looking for how I could put that to use. I applied for a job that was posted at the University, it wasn’t marked up as a games company and I am not sure I would have applied if it had been. I met some of the most supportive and helpful people there who taught me so much, many still working in games. I can’t thank them enough for their patience and support.
Silencing people is not the way to solve it, we need to bring it out into the open.
Gina Jackson
What do you enjoy most about working within video games?
I like working with really creative people, especially technical people, finding solutions and making things that others might enjoy. The iterative process of games and creating moments of joy and wonder is a privilege to be involved with.
What advice would you offer to others who are looking to pursue a career in the video games industry?
I work with people looking to come into games through boot camps and accelerators. I always advise people to build networks, do their own projects and to know that everyone has a different route. You need to be on the lookout for opportunities and if you can find them, then you make them. Talk to everyone, take the risk of going to events or listening to people who you may not agree with. Challenging your thinking will always lead to better solutions, look at a problem from all angles and be prepared to be wrong.
What do you think as an industry we can do better to make a more inclusive and safe space?
Pretty much everything. We have seen companies do a lot of work to make their own workplaces be safer and more inclusive, but we have much further to go to make our events and online places the same. Toxicity and abuse are rife and we can only solve that with strong leadership and that needs to come at a sector level too.
Silencing people is not the way to solve it, we need to bring it out into the open, call it out and find solutions otherwise we wouldn’t ever solve it.
What is something that you are really proud to have accomplished?
To have received direct feedback from Miyamoto on a project I pitched to Nintendo, it was about how a vehicle moved and we heard about some of the issues they had on Mario Kart. I did ask the translator to repeat it as I couldn’t quite believe what they were saying. It was joyous.
Elena Dimitrova, lead designer, Sandsoft Games
How did you get started in games?
My role as a senior graphic designer at Laptop Outlet meant that I could work on projects with a range of tech brands such as Asus, Lenovo, Huawei and more. After working across different industries and projects, I wanted to challenge myself in a different direction.
Looking at the market, I came across a job opportunity as a motion graphic designer at Product Madness. My family has always been a fan of gaming, and we often play games together, so when I saw the opportunity to work in the games industry professionally, I sent my CV and this was how the journey started.
What do you enjoy most about working within video games?
The best thing is to connect with the audience. To know and see that your work is being appreciated by people all over the world is hugely rewarding. I love creating marketing assets and definitely like seeing the data behind it. Another amazing moment is seeing the product before it releases, and having the chance to play it before everyone else.
What makes this industry special is the people; everyone I’ve worked with so far has been hugely open and welcoming.
When our personal experiences are shared we can work together to remove labeling and stereotypes!
Elena Dimitrova
What advice would you offer to others who are looking to pursue a career in the video games industry?
My advice is to follow your passion and to try to connect to companies and people from this industry. Polish your skills and look for opportunities. Everything is possible as long as there is passion and dedication!
What do you think as an industry we can do better to make a more inclusive and safe space?
There are two aspects to creating an inclusive and safe space not only for players but also for people working in the industry. One very important aspect is diversity. It’s important to listen to the audience and create engaging and relevant experiences. So too is supporting talents and young people who have a passion for the industry; creating strong bonds with the audience and teaching young people respect. Training sessions and workshops about inclusivity are important, but so too is gameplay that celebrates inclusivity.
It’s also important to create communities and connect with the audience, using social channels and media to create inclusive spaces. When our personal experiences are shared by people across the globe, we can all work together to remove labeling and stereotypes!
What is something that you are really proud to have accomplished?
I’ve been proud to incorporate new ideas into my creatives, starting when I joined Product Madness. Having full creative freedom, I made live-action creatives, where I was the director, scriptwriter, actor, camera operator and editor.
The most rewarding part was the high level of interest in the creatives during testing, which caused the team to ask for more! I’m still exploring this type of self-made creativity, where my technical and artistic skills are both challenged.
