Sawt Falasteen - Games industry still a hostile environment for many women

"I have experienced circumstances of harassment, circumstances of disrespect, belittling, and even to the point of... getting shut down," said Elaine Gomez, 34, a freelance developer from New Jersey.

Big names in gaming such as France's Ubisoft (publisher of the "Assassin's Creed" saga) or US-based Activision Blizzard ("Call of Duty") have seen women come forward about sexist behaviour in the workplace in recent years.

Three former senior Ubisoft executives will face trial in France over harassment allegations in June.

Two of them have already been fired for serious misconduct, while the group's onetime number two, former creative director Serge Hascoet, resigned.

Ubisoft told AFP it has "changed our HR organisation and misconduct handling processes".

Among these was "creating a specialised employee relations team dedicated to helping prevent and resolve incidents".

For its part, Activision Blizzard did not respond to AFP's questions about anti-harassment measures by time of publication.

"For all kinds of sexist behaviour, there's still work to do in prevention and raising awareness," said one harassment specialist at a major French studio who asked to remain anonymous.

- 'Tip of the iceberg' -

The specialist said she had seen employees come to her only "four or five times" in the space of a year, all of them concerning sexist incidents.

But that represents "the tip of a much bigger iceberg", she believes.

Many women dare not speak up in an industry that remains largely dominated by men.

Although women accounted for around half of gamers worldwide in 2023, according to gaming data specialists Newzoo, they made up only around one-quarter of studio staff according to the Women in Games collective.

Game development employs more than 110,000 people in Europe, 105,000 people in the United States and 35,000 in Canada, according to the European Games Developer Federation (EGDF), the US Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and Canada's trade body.

"Things have got better," said Morgane Falaize, who heads Women in Games' French chapter.

She points to the growth of women employees from just 15 percent in 2018 to 24 percent in 2023 in the country.

The overall figure does mask imbalances in different departments, with women close to half of marketing and communications staff but less than 10 percent in so-called "technical" jobs like game design and coding.

Among managers, the proportion of women was just 20 percent in 2022.

"It's not that we don't want women, it's that there are no female candidates" for senior roles, said Marianne Barousse, who runs a 200-strong team at mobile games developer Gameloft in Montreal.

"I myself have been the victim of sexism from an employee who had trouble taking orders from a woman," said Emma Delage, 35, head of independent game studio Camelia in southern French city Montpellier.

Delage added that she now imposes "zero tolerance" for sexism.

She remembered being compared to a prostitute when soliciting potential investors for an upcoming game -- a comparison she was "not sure that male people who have raised money have faced".

In those same meetings with funders, "we're taken less seriously than men," said Marie Marquet, co-founder of French studio Splashteam, who has frequently encountered potential backers more comfortable addressing her male business partner in meetings.

"Investors are reluctant to put money into businesses run by women," said Tanya X. Short, head of Montreal-based independent studio Kitfox Games.

The Canadian city, a global hub for games development, was also at the heart of the scandal that hit Ubisoft in summer 2020.

Employees at the French group's Montreal studio said they endured a "climate of terror" stemming from sexist behaviour and discrimination.

"There are people in the industry who are still struggling to adjust, it's palpable," said Marie Marquet.

But she saw hope in the "new generations" coming up in game development.

- 'Survival instinct' -

More immediately, the sugar rush stemming from coronavirus lockdowns has given way to an economic crisis that could sweep away some of the progress made on games industry sexism in recent years.

"There's almost no jobs being advertised any more," said one woman working at a Paris games studio, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"If I open my mouth too far and it backfires, there's no fallback".

As the industry endures hard times, "women are over-represented in jobs at the bottom of the hierarchical ladder" and therefore often first in line when companies slash positions, said Thomas Rodriguez, a spokesman for French games industry union STJV.

Belt-tightening at major groups could also mean less resources for diversity efforts, often targeted by the most conservative fringes of gamers on social networks like X.

New Jersey-based Gomez said she was troubled by the rolling up of jobs and departments dealing with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the United States.

Still a relatively compact industry -- employing just 12-15,000 people in France, for example -- games development is "a small world" where speaking out can ruin a reputation, Women in Games' Falaize said.

"I've already been told 'careful what you do, because I can get you blacklisted," said Marquet.

"Most women don't want to cause trouble" in the gaming industry, said one 29-year-old independent developer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It's a kind of survival instinct for us," the woman added.

She said she herself had chosen not to bring legal action over "derogatory language" and a non-consensual kiss while working at a major French studio.

"I'm even thinking about quitting gaming to find better working conditions," the developer added.

Y.AlMasri--SF-PST