A new report from Women in Games is calling for greater transparency around funding, leadership and investment in the video games industry, warning that women remain significantly underrepresented in positions of power despite making up around half of all players worldwide.
The report, The Drop-Off: Women in Games from Players to Power and Capital – Funding and Investment Data Gaps in the Games Industry, examines how female representation declines as influence, leadership responsibility and access to investment increase.
While progress has been made in attracting more women into gaming and games-related careers, the report argues that significant barriers remain when it comes to company ownership, executive leadership and access to growth capital.
The findings highlight the importance of strengthening diversity and inclusion strategies beyond recruitment, focusing instead on long-term progression, leadership development and equitable access to opportunities.
Women in Games identified three key conclusions from its research. First, women’s representation steadily decreases at higher levels of influence and decision-making. Second, women remain significantly underrepresented among company founders, senior executives and investment recipients. Third, the industry lacks consistent gender-disaggregated funding and investment data, making it difficult to accurately assess progress or identify areas requiring intervention.
The report draws on available games industry data alongside broader UK and international investment research. According to figures cited from organisations including the British Business Bank and PitchBook, all-female founder teams receive approximately 2% of UK equity investment. Even among programmes specifically designed to improve diversity outcomes, this typically rises to only around 5%.
Women in Games CEO Dr Marie-Claire Isaaman said the lack of transparency around funding and ownership represents a significant challenge for the sector.:
“The industry does not lack evidence of inequality – it lacks visibility on who controls and receives funding and investment. Without that transparency, progress is limited.
“We can measure players. We can partially measure workforce participation. But when we look at who receives investment, who scales businesses, and who gains access to funding & capital, visibility drops away almost entirely.
“This matters because innovation, creativity and economic growth depend on the industry being able to access the full breadth of available talent. If opportunities and investment continue to flow through the same narrow pathways, the sector risks limiting its own future potential.”
The organisation argues that improving transparency would benefit not only diversity objectives but also innovation, talent retention and long-term business growth.
Among its recommendations are the introduction of transparent reporting on funding and investment by gender, standardised data collection across the sector, greater accountability in capital allocation decisions and independent monitoring of investment outcomes.
The report serves as a reminder that creating a diverse workforce is only one part of the challenge. Ensuring equal access to leadership pathways, business ownership opportunities and investment support will be critical if the games industry is to fully unlock the breadth of talent available to it.
The report, The Drop-Off: Women in Games from Players to Power and Capital, is available here.
