Last year Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch and Kirsten Forbes of Vancouver launched Silicon Sisters, a game company dedicated to creating games made by women for women. Soon they will release their first game, School 26. School 26 is a casual role-playing game that puts players in the shoes of a high school student who helps her peer with personal problems.
"The core game world has not moved aggressively into the female space," says Gershkovitch. "The casual and social gaming world has."
"We're not concentrating on building games for those gals because they've figured out what they want," Gershkovitch added – addressing those gamers that play hardcore games like Call of Duty. "We're building games for the rest of the girls out there - the girls who haven't yet broken into traditional gaming."
The duo were recently highlighted in this Toronto Star report. Since 40 percent of video game players in the United States and Canada are female, making games for women is a no-brainer.
School 26 is set for release sometime this spring on iOS devices. Forbes says it best with the following:
"Women are the most tenacious demographic. We’ve played games for years and years, despite the fact that no one was actually making them for us. We stuck with it."
Indeed.
Source: C&VG, image credit: Toronto Star
Comments
Re: Silicon Sisters: Games For Women, Made By Women
what women cant like the same games we men enjoy? women gamers do like those games thats why thet're gamers allready.
this is going to be about getting more women into gaming its going to be the casual market all over again only pink and with ponies.
I dont know what women are going to think but if I was a woman Id find this insulting.
(why do I feel like when ever I post on GP that I just end up ranting and complaining?)
Re: Silicon Sisters: Games For Women, Made By Women
I don't necessarily see a problem with reaching out to new markets, and trying to cater to tastes that aren't being satisfied. I, for example, play mostly shooters and very few RPGs. This doesn't make shooters better than RPGs, it just means I have a job and don't have the time to sink 100+ hours into a game.
I'm not optimistic about games targeted at women, though, because this usually means nothing more than "shrink it and pink it," and the result is usually a juvenille, clunky, and yes, insulting mess.
Re: Silicon Sisters: Games For Women, Made By Women
In theory, I like the idea of creating games aimed at a female demographic hardcore or not, but this game sounds like it's gone too far into the partiez/babyz/pinkz direction.
Re: Silicon Sisters: Games For Women, Made By Women
Please, for the love of god, do not make it pink.
Re: Silicon Sisters: Games For Women, Made By Women
Well said.
Re: Silicon Sisters: Games For Women, Made By Women
Feh, I'm not playing that. Too girly.
Andrew Eisen