Game On? 50% of Video Gamers are Women vs Only 11% of Game Designers.

Something's gotta give.

When 50% of your target market is from a very different demographic than the majority of your creative and business talent, the chances for disruptive innovation are high. Extremely high.

In fact, the shift in audience may have something to do with the flattening out of the trend line in sales of games and the associated hardware.

Given the macho ethos of the gaming world, the shift in focus will require some subtlety - again, not a gaming strong suit - but the potential financial impact makes it imperative, not voluntary. Whether the industry is capable of recognizing both the threat and the opportunity is an open question. That the market is changing, however, is not. JL

Christina Binkley reports in the Wall Street Journal:

The developers of a new videogame believe there is a gap in their industry: action games with feminine appeal.

Their offering is called "Fashion Hazard," a game in which high-fashion models dodge obstacles, and each other in New York, London, Milan and Paris. The game comes from the two-year-old Interactive Product Group unit of Condé Nast, the publisher of magazines including Vogue, Glamour and GQ.
Girls and women make up nearly half of gamers today, according to the Entertainment Software Association industry group, and women over 18 are one of the fastest-growing gaming segments—in part because they're newer to games than boys and men. In 2011, $16.6 billion worth of games were sold in the U.S., according to NPD Group. About one-third of gamers are under 18.

Women's penchant for a narrative is why "Fashion Hazard" includes a story line for each model at the same time that it ratchets the action up as the game progresses. And it is why the game brings the story to a conclusion rather than using the "endless runner" model of many games.

Interactive Product Group's role is to develop new businesses separate from Condé Nast's current operations, but might later augment them or lead to new strategies. The group previously helped develop an iPad presentation app called Idea Flight.

Many women and girls prefer action games yet are turned off by masculine-viewpoint imagery, says Sheri Graner Ray, studio design director for Schell Games in Austin, Texas, and author of the 2003 book, "Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding The Market."

Ms. Ray says games often reflect the people creating them. Only 11% of game developers are women. "Young, white, straight, able-bodied males" dominate the field, she says. Ms. Ray, who worked on the popular "Star Wars Galaxies" game, says she often encourages development teams to use less sexualized imagery to avoid alienating potential female consumers. Women also enjoy violent games, she says, if there is a logical reason for violence in the narrative.

"Fashion Hazard" is meant to make a profit, not advertise Condé Nast's fashion publications. Besides the purchase price, upgrades, ringtones, and "model packs" with new models will be sold midgame. One model pack includes an African-American male model named Rob Capo, whose bio says, "Rob was an All-American athlete….Modeling is just a steppingstone to his real aspiration: acting." The first female model that comes with the game is named Ellie. She's from Kansas and dreams of making it big in modeling. The group also is hoping to attract product placements in the game from fashion and retail brands.

Is the game a game-changer for girls? My 10-year-old daughter, Saskia, enjoyed the game, and particularly liked making it to the ultimate runway, Paris. But she said she still prefers "Temple Run" and other non-girlish games. She was confused by the flying coffees—"I just got hit with something," she said. But she preferred "Fashion Hazard" to other fashion games she has played. "My other fashion games are like, run a store," she said with an eye roll.