The Most Important Women in the Video Game Industry

Video games are a billion-dollar industry. Such is its importance that, as portrayed by the MarketWatch website, it became bigger than American movies and sports during the pandemic, proving that more and more gamers are waiting for new titles to enjoy.

Unlike movies or music, where we usually know the directors and directors of films or the members of a rock band, the truth is that developers have always been "hidden figures" within the video game industry… especially women. However, many of them have played key roles. Let's meet the most important ones.

Brenda Romero

Perhaps one of the most influential women in the history of the video game industry… and one of the most recognized. Formerly known as Brenda Brathwaite, she is a video game developer who started working in 1981 and hasn't stopped since.

In her resume, she can be proud to say that she participated in the credits of 49 titles to date, which led her to be considered one of the 100 most influential women in the video game industry, according to the specialized magazine Next Generation, which also mentioned that she was the woman who had been working the longest without interruptions.

In 2018 she achieved the Honorary Award granted by the Fun & Serious Game Festival, due to her great trajectory. She is mainly known for being in charge of the successful role-playing video game saga Wizardry, where she developed the levels, game systems and scripts. She also worked with her husband, the renowned developer John Romero, in Ravenhood Fair, where she was the main designer and she was the creative director.

Undoubtedly, one of the most important women that explain how the industry evolved.

Amy Hennig

One of the most popular in recent times. She has been working in the video game industry since 1980, but that was not her main focus. She was actually interested in film, until she was hired as an artist for an Atari game known as Electrocop, which made her realize that this area of work fascinated her.

She admits that her greatest achievement was her participation in the Legacy of Kain saga, a series of titles revolving around the vampire mythology, and she also participated in incredible titles by Naughty Dog, such as Jak and Daxter or Battlefield Hardline by Electronic Arts. She also participated in incredible titles from Naughty Dog, such as Jak and Daxter or Battlefield Hardline, from Electronic Arts. However, it is clear that her greatest popularity came from her work in the Uncharted series, in which she participated in the first three installments.

There she led the teams that created this franchise, which quickly became one of the most iconic franchises of all time, something that earned him two WGA Awards for his excellent work from the point of view of the script, which she considers even more important than the graphics.

This scriptwriter will show you the importance of a good narrative in a videogame.

Aya Kyogoku

Nintendo is perhaps one of the most important companies in the video game industry. The enormous work they have done in their most emblematic franchises has always been highlighted, as each release is made with great passion and affection. Well, a great reason for all this success is Aya Kyogoku.

This Japanese woman is the current manager of Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development, but she started working for the company in 2003. There she worked as a scriptwriter on the Zelda saga, recognized as one of the best in history. In particular, she wrote the screenplay for The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, work for which she won a Game Developers Choice in 2007, according to imdB.

In addition to this, she is in charge of the production, direction, and supervision of the fantastic Animal Crossing franchise, whose latest installment, New Horizons, sold more than 26 million copies since its launch in 2020, making it the most popular version of this series with almost 20 years of history.

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This artist will make you fall in love with her from the beginning, as she worked on releases that received great reviews from the specialized and the fans.

Jade Raymond

She began her career as a programmer developing educational games for IBM and Microsoft but started to become visible when she came to Electronic Arts, where she produced the hit game The Sims Online, released in 2002.

After that, she began her work for another great company: Ubisoft, where she would be in charge of the great Assassin's Creed saga, where she was in the first, second, and third installment, which were loved by fans. In the same way, she participated in the game Splinter Cell: Blacklist, from 2013.

By 2019, she began to occupy the position of vice president of Google, with the goal of leading the streaming video games division of the Google Stadia service. However, in February 2021 she was removed from her position because the company decided to close its studios to develop video games and she announced the creation of her independent studio: Haven Entertainment Studios.

This developer is characterized by frenetic games with a really addictive gameplay. We hope you've met these great women in the video game industry!