WOMEN IN GAMES BRINGS ITS CALL FOR CHANGE TO IEEE COG 2026

Our CEO Dr Marie-Claire Isaaman joined researchers and games industry professionals in Madrid in early September for the IEEE Conference on Games 2026. Held at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the annual conference brings together research and practice across game design, artificial intelligence, education, psychology and other fields.

Marie-Claire delivered a lightning talk on the recently-published Women in Games’ report The Drop-Off: Women in Games from Players to Power and Capital. She also gave an Industry Day keynote, ‘Women in Games: From Grassroots Community to Global Change,’ tracing the organisation’s development from its first conference in 2004 to a network of more than 2,700 Ambassadors across over 100 countries.

Her keynote explored how Women in Games now works across industry, education, policy, community and culture – and why connecting those fields matters. Women and girls are already central to games as players, creators, students and professionals, she argued. Yet their participation as players does not translate into equal access to leadership, business ownership, investment or influence over the industry’s future.

Drawing on The Drop-Off, Marie-Claire described the different barriers women encounter as they move through the games ecosystem, from safety and belonging to career progression and access to capital. She also highlighted a challenge for researchers: data on funding, ownership and progression is often fragmented or absent, making it harder to understand where opportunity is lost and whether efforts to improve it are working.

The presentation was an invitation to the CoG community to help close those evidence gaps and test practical solutions. Marie-Claire challenged researchers, educators, businesses and funders to consider how they use the influence they already have – not only to document inequality, but to change the decisions and systems behind it.

Sergio Gutiérrez-Manjón, Publicity and Media Co-Chair of IEEE CoG 2026 and Secretary of the Spanish Society for Video Game Sciences, said: “It was a true privilege to welcome Marie-Claire to the IEEE Conference on Games 2026 in Madrid. Her presentation provided invaluable insights and sparked meaningful conversations across our community. At IEEE CoG, we deeply value our collaboration with Women in Games and are proud to support their vital work in championing diversity throughout the gaming industry.”

For Women in Games, the conference offered an opportunity to strengthen the links between research and action. As Marie-Claire made clear in her closing challenge, the future of games – and who has the power to shape it – will be determined by the choices the sector makes now.