Just like most industries, the Swedish games industry isn’t equal. And just like in most industries, efforts are made to change that — but is the games industry really doing enough?
The games industry compared
Pernilla Alexandersson is a Norm Engineer and expert on inclusiveness and equality. As the founder and CEO of Add Gender she has extensive experience working with equality issues in the games industry, as well as in other sectors.
— What’s not unique about the games industry is the fact that it is unequal. Old traditions and perceptions about the division of work and interests related to gender are hard-wired into the industry, just as in many other sectors, Pernilla says.
In the field of forestry for example, Pernilla explains, there are stereotypes about a family with a man working in the forest and a woman who stays at home. The industry has been built on such perceptions for centuries.
— These kinds of stereotypes exist in the games industry as well, but there are also apparent differentiators between sectors, she says.
Forestry on the one hand is being forced to step up its recruiting game. In order to find and hire the workforce they need, with the local limitations they have, they need to change and develop a more inclusive, equal, and attractive (to non-men) work environment.
— The games industry, on the other hand, is a global market with the whole world as its target group, which makes it simple to “take the easy way” and recruit remotely or in another country instead of focusing on improving inclusiveness here and now, Pernilla says.
Are we doing enough?
To break stereotypes and make a change in the industry, hard work needs to be done.
— A lot needs to change fast, and by simply hiring somewhere else the games industry is ignoring the problem. They’re filling the sieve from the top, but it keeps dripping out in the bottom. In contrast, industries like forestry or transportation are actively repairing the leak.
Although plenty of studios are working effectively to recruit against stereotypes (often to their success) it’s a massive leap of transformation that might require more attention and effort than we are currently giving it, Pernilla says.
— The industry is already something new, compared to 10 years ago, even if there are still traces of what was once there. But are we doing enough? I believe we might be making a big mistake boasting ‘We’re so good at this’ instead of putting in the next necessary gear in order to get to the next level faster.
Fierce competition for talent
At the same time tech companies are starting to glance toward games industry talent, making the competition for the people slowly but surely even tougher, Pernilla says. Sooner or later, if we keep moving in this direction, game companies won’t be able to rely on new talent to want to join game studios.
— With more established tech companies offering a better work-life balance and the ability to work there without becoming part of an unhealthy crunch mentality, talents in games are likely to prefer them as an employer.
Slowly but surely the games industry won’t be able to fill the sieve from the top anymore, as talent will be harder to find and recruit unless you’re offering a workplace with solid values, Pernilla continues.
— They will be forced to start digging where they are standing. And there are plenty of low-hanging fruit to quickly harvest. I’m convinced that the studios who rapidly tag along in the transformation will be the winners at the end of it, Pernilla says.
Collaboration is key
Changing stereotypes that are carved into certain professions is very hard (if not impossible) to do alone. It requires co-creative work with transforming norms. Here is where Pernilla’s expertise especially comes to hand. Strategic and long-term work with challenging stereotypes and making norms more inclusive is her specialty and she believes in collaborating with external partners, as well as the industry as a whole.
— You have to make a decision and start hooking arms with others who have the same challenges in order to create solutions together. Don’t be protective about your work, but work together in order to actually make a change.
