The Drop-Off: Women in Games from Players to Power and Capital

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Women make up around half of players globally, but their share of the industry's workforce, senior roles, and executive positions falls at each stage.See it on page 10
02
Women hold only around 16% of executive positions within major global games companies, according to the 20-first 2020 analysis.See it on page 10
03
The report states that only around 2-5% of funding goes to women-led businesses, though no games-specific dataset currently tracks this.See it on page 10
04
The UK Games Fund has been evaluated for economic impact, but publicly available sources provide no gender-disaggregated data on applications, success rates or award values.See it on page 14
05
The authors argue that the drop-off reflects structural barriers rather than a lack of participation or talent.See it on page 8
06
The authors state that no major industry dataset including Ukie, GDC, or IGDA systematically tracks access to capital by gender.See it on page 24

Summary

Dr Marie-Claire Isaaman, CEO of Women in Games, authored this 2026 insight report on funding and investment data gaps in the games industry, drawing on UK, European and global sources. The report states that women make up around half of global players, yet their share falls at each stage of influence: about 25-30% of the games workforce, around 22% of senior roles, around 16% of executive positions in major global games companies, and 2-5% of funding and investment going to women-led businesses. The 2-5% figure is drawn from cross-sector investment datasets, as no games-specific dataset tracks it. According to the authors, the games industry lacks consistent, gender-disaggregated data on funding and investment, and the UK Games Fund publishes no breakdown of outcomes by gender. The authors argue that the absence of gender-disaggregated data is a structural barrier to equitable growth, and they note that Innovate UK's 2024 Women in Innovation Awards demonstrate how targeted equity initiatives can become fragile when funding commitments, communication and accountability mechanisms are not clearly aligned. Women's representation declines sharply at senior, executive, ownership and investment levels.