SLIGHT UPTICK IN WOMEN’S REPRESENTATION: GDC STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT

The latest GDC State of the Industry Report has revealed that 25% of the games workforce are women, compared to 23% reported in last year’s survey.

Meanwhile, six per cent of the 3,000 developers who responded to the survey identify as non-binary. Men are still dominating the sector at 66%. However, as highlighted by the authors of the report, that figure was 75% in 2020, meaning that we’ve seen a nine-point change over the past five years.

Elsewhere, the research has revealed that LGBTQ+ representation has also increased, up from 21% in 2024 to 24% this year.

When it comes to industry EDI initiatives and programmes, there was also more positive news, with over half (56%) of all respondents claiming that their companies had been either ‘very successful’ or ‘somewhat successful’ in their EDI efforts.

In terms of race and ethnicity, the report revealed that 59% of developers are White/Caucasian, 10% as Hispanic/Latin/Spanish origin and 9% as East Asian.

Women in Games CEO Dr Marie-Claire Isaaman offered: “We welcome the annual GDC Report as it provides a valuable snapshot of the industry. As a gender focused organisation, we will always advocate for the industry to do much more to attract and retain more women. When half of all players, and half of the population are women, they should represent more than 25% of the industry’s workforce. However, it is heartening to see that the figure has increased from last year, and we hope that the needle continues to move on the dial.”

To download the full GDC State of the Industry 2025 Report, click here [LINK – https://reg.gdconf.com/state-of-game-industry-2025]