Tipping in Favor of Girl Power

This week, several things cropped up on the radar which collectively suggest some sort of tipping point. Or, I suppose, more likely that the point has tipped and we are starting to see the effects.

The first announcements were released in conjunction with the event, Casual Connect. Sony Online announced the relaunch of Station.com, a portal for the casual experience of games, including access to trials of Sony's MMOs. Nickelodean announced plans to spend $100 million over the next two years on casual games and virtual worlds. Oh, and did I mention that casual games are still dominated by female players?

Gamasutra didn't pick it up, but this week also saw the news that Barbie Girls, a virtual world aimed at, you might guess, preteen girls, experienced astonishingly explosive growth, reaching 3 million users in sixty days.

And you thought WoW was popular.

Then in recent game announcements, Ubisoft released details on a new series of games specifically for girls. The Imagine series include aspirational games based on professions, like fashion designer, veternarian, and figure skater. There's also a virtual baby doll with Imagine Babyz. Throw in Imagine Equestrienne and I'm so there.

Speaking of things equine, Atari is coming out with a horse-riding simulation game, My Horse and Me. The language in the official PR is carefully gender-neutral, speaking very coolly of the "Horse-enthusiast community", but you cannot convince me that in North America, at least, this game is not targeted specifically at horse-crazy girls between the ages of seven and fourteen. Which is to say, nearly all girls.

You may also have read that the PS3 has finally sold 1 million units in Japan eight months after launch. It took the Wii six weeks to reach the same milestone. Why? In part because flocks of non gamers (many of them women) bought a console, some, I've no doubt, for the first time in their lives.

There has clearly been a radical shift in the gaming landscape, a change that was a long time coming; game creators now prove that they have listened to the evangelists I've heard talk again and again about the untapped market of female players, of casual players, of players who don't necessarily have the time or money or, frankly, the interest to spend on the Gears of Wars and the Calls of Duty. I've also noted a snowball effect in the realm of virtual worlds, especially those aimed at young children, girls, women, or other non-traditional players.

The title of this post is, I realize, somewhat provocative; casual gamers are not to be equated necessarily with female or girl gamers. However, the two trends are linked because they both represent significant market share that has never been explicitly courted before; and as the report noted above, casual gaming does seem to overlap significantly with a female player base.

Girl games, or "pink" games, have come under fire before - even by (maybe particularly by?) female gamers who hate the idea of being pandered to, of their tastes wrapped in pink and served to them with a dose of condescension. But I would prefer to see this development as first steps in broadening the market, charting the way for more complex and less specifically gendered games. There have been games that have achieved this already - and early vanguard which includes Katamari Damacy, which is, in fact, a casual game, and a brilliant one; Wii Sports; Guitar Hero - which somehow manages to reward both casual and hardcore players. These are the sorts of games which we will see more of.

So this is a good trend. When game creators start paying attention to what girls want, everyone will win.

Comments

[Pete S]

You touch on this point, but this kind of a trend has started before (back in the mid-late 90s) but was quickly shouted down by people who found the whole concept offensive to girls and women.

So what, I wonder, is different this time? These games have already gained more traction than 'girl games' did the last time the trend came around, when something called "Barbie Girls" would've been quickly sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.

So how our cultural society changed? I don't think its a issue with the quality of the games because those old 'pink' games were condemned before they even launched.

I think its a great trend, though. I hope it flourishes this time around.

[eric]

i would look at it as an attempt by companies to extend the disney princess marketing model as this demographic of young girls moves toward their teen years. "Five years ago, the Princess line generated just $100 million in annual revenue. Next year, it's projected to hit $3 billion."

disney has engineered a segment of voracious consumers from the cradle, and you will see plenty of companies vying to get their hands on those dollars as the demographic ages. in my opinion the disney princess line has been several steps backwards in all sorts of ways. it remains to be seen what products these girls will be steered into as they get older, but it seems from your observation they will be marketed under a broad "girl power" umbrella.