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How do you attract a gamer who doesn’t identify as a gamer? Figuring that out is a step in attracting profitable women gamers to your mobile game, and it all starts with understanding women’s gaming motivations, says Superbloom CEO Emily Yim.
She recently released Venue, a new design game with a majority-women playerbase. She’s worked at major gaming companies like EA, Zynga, and Glu, and recently joined us to chat about her experience on the Growth Masterminds podcast:
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Women gamers: yep we still have issues
We know women are important game consumers, but we also know that most people who make games are men, and us dudes might not always know what women want.
(It’s almost like there’s a movie about that.)
In fact, 60% of women said that 30% or fewer of mobile games are made for them in a study published by Google and Newzoo. (It’s an older but still relevant survey result from 2017.) And 72% of women gamers say they have experienced toxic environments in social multiplayer games as recently as 2022.
A big issue for marketers, of course, is this: if your audience doesn’t identify as gamers, how do you market and advertise your game in an appealing non-gamey way?
Here are 9 things I learned chatting with Emily …
1. Women make up at least 50% of mobile gamers
Women represent a significant portion of the gaming audience, especially in mobile gaming. In fact women preferentially like mobile games over console and PC games, unlike men.
In the U.S. and UK, 74% of women play mobile games daily according to a GameHouse study. 67% of them say that gaming is a critically important way to get some “me time” and unplug from everything else that’s going on.
And who doesn’t need a bit more “me time?”
2. Many women gamers don’t identify as gamers
Apparently you can play games but not identify as a gamer.
“ What got me really into getting fascinated by the women gamers persona, especially when I worked at lifestyle game titles, is that these gamers don’t really consider themselves as gamers,” Yim says. “They kind of deny that: ‘oh I’m just using an app and I’m not shooting things.’”
I personally relate to that: I play mobile games and games on other platforms but the “gamer” designation just seems more hard core, more full time, more headset-wearing alien-blasting extreme. In the same way, many women who play games frequently do not consider themselves “gamers,” Yim says, because they associate that term with more traditional gaming.
The result can be that women’s engagement in gaming is underestimated because they don’t self-identify as gamers on surveys or in interviews.
Marketing to non-gamer gamers, in addition, becomes more challenging. You need to appeal to them in non-gaming ways on non-gaming platforms, Yim says, including via social media platforms.
3. Women in mobile gaming are highly engaged and spend money
Even though women may deny being gamers, they still engage deeply with mobile games. They buy in-game purchases and they’re heavily social in games with social components.
“[They were] ‘not a gamer,’ but they would heavily engage,” Yim says. “They would pay a lot. They are socially really active, and so they have this denial behavior, but also heavily engaging, you know … almost like a midcore behavior.”
Which means female mobile gamers are an active and valuable segment for both monetization and community-building. And the community building effort they put into a game can have spillover benefits not only for other female gamers but also for all gamers … who now have the opportunity to participate in a richer and busier community in and around a game.
4. Women gamers often prefer different game genres and play styles
Women love mobile games, but not all of them equally.
In fact, women tend to preferentially play casual and lifestyle games. The GameHouse study from 2023 found that bubble shooters were the most popular genre, followed by puzzle and word games, and board and collapse games.
That said, there is not 1 single profile of “the female mobile gamer.” There are differences, and it’s important to remember even if many or most women like non-combat games, there are some hardcore Call of Duty women gamers out there.
In another 2023 study, Bryter found that recently more women are playing multiplayer games, and that action-adventure games — and yes, shooters — were among the top categories.
For women who don’t identify as gamers, even the gameplay and graphics need to change:
“ When we built our game, we crafted our art style to not be super gaming, not super cartoony,” Yim says. “It still needs to have a balance. It needs to have an exciting feel to it. Things need to have animation, but we try to make it quite hybrid, you know, in terms of aesthetics between an app and a game.”
5. Women’s motivation to play games is different from men’s
Women often play games for creativity, expression, and relaxation rather than intense competition, Yim says. Which makes sense if you’re just looking for a chill break from an already stressful and intense day.
But there’s also a drive for productivity … even in a game.
And a feeling of “doing something right.”
“ There could be a lot about expression and creativity, but I think the core of a lot of this older adult women generation, it evolves around sense of productivity, sense of progression, doing something right every day,” says Yim.
“I attribute that to a lot of women at that age having a chaotic life going on because of the life phases. They might have a kid, they might have a partner, they might be going through their career, which is stressful … there’s a lot going on in their lives. So they want something that’s constantly giving them a nudge in terms of like, I’m doing something right.”
As 1 gaming marketer I spoke to put it: mobile gaming is about getting a win when maybe you’re not getting that successful feeling anywhere else in your life.
6. Women value productivity and progression in games
This is very related to the previous point. Yim says that women who play are drawn to games that provide a structured yet flexible sense of accomplishment.
That win. That productivity. That bit of success. And that progression to the next level.
In Venue, part of that is in sharing your designs and getting great ratings and reviews.
7. Women prefer collaboration over competition in gaming
Social mechanics matter in games for women, and let’s just put it out there: traditional competitive leaderboards aren’t social, and don’t typically appeal to women.
That means traditional game mechanics might not be a great fit for the majority of women.
“ When we say ‘social,’ we usually just imagine competition, climbing on the leaderboard, winning the tournament,” says Yim. “So there is a lot of competitive motivation in terms of the social side of mechanics. But for women, they like to be collaborative more than competitive, and they are very conversational: they like to chat, they want to exchange ideas. So really kind of beating somebody in PVP is not something they really strive for.”
The result is that Venue offers leaderboards, but not complete ranking. Instead of being #87, you get a score for your design and that score is how you get in-game rewards.
In other words, you don’t have to beat someone else in order to win yourself.
8. Women gamers appreciate real-life inspiration in games
The first thing I thought when I saw Yim’s game Venue is how it could apply to real life. (Probably because my wife and I just went through a massive kitchen and main floor renovation, and there’s more on the agenda for the spring.)
But that’s something that appeals to women playing the game as well.
The insight from Yim: games that offer real-world value or creativity (for example in home design or fashion) tend to resonate well with women.
9. Many women gamers prefer games with a non-traditional game aesthetic
Again, women are not monolithic and clearly many appreciate games all across the various genres, including those with the most mobile game aesthetic possible … think matching games or Angry Bird games.
But there are women who prefer a more photorealistic rather than cartoonish style, Yim says … especially if they don’t identify as gamers. That helps them feel like they’re doing something productive as well as enjoyable: valuable as well as fun.
Much more in the full podcast
As you might expect, there’s much more in the full podcast, including:
- 00:00 Introduction and Audience Insights
- 00:27 Meet Emily Yum: Gaming Industry Leader
- 01:02 Emily’s Career Journey
- 03:24 The Concept and Development of Venue
- 06:26 Growth Strategy and Audience Engagement
- 13:19 Women in Gaming: Insights and Motivations
- 20:21 Future Plans and Global Expansion
- 27:15 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Check it out wherever you listen to podcasts, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.