It’s no secret that video game development has been a largely male-dominated field since its inception. Even though the industry wouldn’t be where it is today without lots of influential women driving it forward, the imbalance is still rather apparent, and a history of harassment againstwomen in gamingdoesn’t help.
But women in game development have been working to close that gap by working their way up the ranks and even starting their own studios. Many of these studios have created some of your favorite games, and it’s certainly a worthwhile endeavor to recognize those female-led companies for their efforts.
9Love Conquers All Games
Christine Love - Co-Founder
Co-founded by Christine Love, the aptly-named Love Conquers All Games creates experiences focused on relationships and solid emotional gut punches. With her studio, Love has put out several acclaimed titles with lots of comedy, romance, and satisfying LGBTQ+ inclusive storylines.
Love Conquers All Games is largelyknown for visual novelslike Digital: A Love Story, Analogue: A Hate Story, and the erotic comedy Ladykiller In A Bind. But they also went more of the action route with Get In The Car, Loser!, a delightfully chaotic romp that lets you live out your wildest road trip fantasies.
8Microbird Games
Regina Reisinger - Co-Founder
The Vienna-based Microbird Games was founded by Regina Reisinger and Philipp Seifried in 2020, and their small team truly has some power behind it. Their goalon their sitewas to make ‘visually distinct single player experiences that will take you on fantastic and unique journeys,’ and they absolutely succeeded.
In just a few short years, they managed to put outDungeons of Hinterberg, a stunning adventure through a gorgeous Alpine town and the magical dungeons surrounding it. Its more compact Persona-like structure is immensely satisfying, and you may thank Reisinger and the rest of her team for that.
7Kitfox Games
Tanya X. Short - Co-Founder, Creative Director
In 2013, game designer Tanya X. Short helped launch Kitfox Games alongside her new team in Montreal, Canada. Despite not having worked together before, the crew meshed well and put out the sci-fi roguelike Shattered Planet just one year later.
This was quickly followed by a slew of others, including action RPG Moon Hunters and the shockingly heartfelt dungeon crawlerBoyfriend Dungeon. Yes, they made the game where you fight through dungeons with people who shapeshift into weapons and thenalso date those weapons. Cinema.
6Extremely OK Games
Maddy Thorson - Founder, Director
You may not recognize the name Extremely OK Games, but odds are you’ve heard of its founder or at least of her most popular game. Formerly going by Maddy Makes Games, Maddy Thorson made waves with her incredible 2D platformerCeleste, and she’s still going with her new studio.
Her team at Maddy Makes Games (now effectively the team at Extremely OK Games) also previously put out the arena combat game TowerFall. So between that and Celeste’s popularity as a platformerand trans allegory, Thorson has certainly made her mark on the industry.
5Pounce Light Games
Anastasia Opara - Co-Founder
Swedish indie developer Pounce Light Games is a tiny yet mighty studio comprised of only two people. Co-founders Anastasia Opara and Tomasz Stachowiak came together with a cozy goal, and that goal was achieved marvelously.
Their crowning achievement isTiny Glade, themost comforting building gameyou could imagine. Opara and her development partner brought out this relaxing gem at seemingly the exact perfect time, and they deserve all the praise for it.
4Cygnus Entertainment
Roberta Williams - Co-Founder
Roberta Williams was already an industry icon when she formed Cygnus Entertainment in 2021. She also co-founded Sierra Entertainment, the studio behind classic adventure games like Phantasmagoria and the beloved King’s Quest series. Women have been influential in game development since the early days, and Williams is one of the most legendary examples.
Not only was she the creative mind behind so many celebrated titles, she and her husband Ken (former Sierra CEO) returned to the industry decades later as Cygnus Entertainment to create Colossal Cave, a 3D ramake of Colossal Cave Adventure, a 1976 text-based game revered as one of the most significant early interactive experiences.
3Glass Bottom Games
Megan Fox - Founder
Originally started as a side project in 2011, Glass Bottom Games became its wonderful beast a year later when founder Megan Fox’s previous workplace, MMO developer NetDevil, shut down. It also resulted in the delightful SkateBIRD.
While they’ve created a few games, Fox and her teamstruck goldwhen they released the adorable avian skateboarding game SkateBIRD in 2021, letting you kickflip, grind, and other skateboarding words around tiny environments as your own cute little customizable bird. Sometimes, you don’t know how badly you’ve needed something until someone else makes it.
2Moonana
Specializingin retro-style RPGs, Moonana was founded by game designer Nana Moon and quickly set about creating some truly charming experiences. Getting her start in game jams, Moon had a taste for more when she started her studio.
Her team’s first major release was the stylish pixel RPG Virgo vs. The Zodiac, but perhaps their most notable was 2024’s Keylocker. This turn-based cyberpunk story (it’s right there in the title on Steam) drops you in a world where music itself has been deemed a crime, offering a perhaps unintentional nod to Footloose you may not have realized you needed.
1Haven Studios
Jade Raymond - Founder
Legendary game producer Jade Raymond is one of those industry figures who hasn’t slowed down in the slightest over the years. She started Haven Studios in 2022, with the company quickly being taken under the wing of Sony and becoming a first-party developer for PlayStation Studios.
But while Haven’s anticipated co-op heist titleFairgame$is interesting enough, Raymond’s previous work speaks for itself. Not only did she head up the creation of Ubisoft Toronto, but she was also key in the development of gaming juggernauts like the originalAssassin’s Creed.
