Game Makers Aren't Chasing Women

Thanks to Wired News for their article discussing what videogames women are playing, and whether the mainstream games industry is serving them well. According to the piece, "Observers say the industry isn't exactly rushing to make PC and console games that appeal to both men and women, let alone women alone. That's despite the massive success of games with crossover appeal, such as The Sims." However, a researcher on the subject suggests being too calculating doesn't work either: "Making games in which you get women to do 'women things' isn't a very successful strategy." So what does?

Comments

Re:"Gearing" games towards women...

[Urox]

well i know when i play tekken with my wife, she instantly gravitates towards those characters!

Speaking as a woman, I never felt the urge to play a male character when a female one was readily available. And I'm half asian and specifically gravitated toward the more asian characters: Chun-Li over Cammy, Kitana over Sonja, Xianghua over Ivy... But I think we all realize that the scantily clad-ness is eye candy for the boys.

i think the main problem is that they cant relate to the protagonist in 99% of the games out there. the female urge is not "questing", it's not "me vs the entire world".

Then what about the strong success of the Zelda series? Or Final Fantasy?