Women in the Gaming Industry We Stan!

This International Women’s Day, we’ve decided to celebrate all of the fantastic and influential women in the gaming industry.  There are thousands and we couldn’t possibly name them all, but we’ve selected a few of our favourites that deserve a shout out!  

Amy Henning:

Amy Henning is a video game director and script writer, who has worked on some of the most popular game franchises, including Jak and Daxter and Uncharted.  

Henning has worked in several different areas and companies in the gaming industry. Starting off as a freelance artist, later moving into game development and script writing. She has now set up her own division at Skydance Media, called Skydance New Media. In 2021, they revealed that they were partnering with Marvel, to create a new narrative-based video game. 

Considered to be one of the most influential women in the gaming industry, Henning has gone on to win two Writers Guild of America Video Game Writing Awards, for her work on the Uncharted franchise. 

The most recent video game she has been involved with is Square Enix’s Forspoken, which was released back in January this year.  

Notable Games:

• Electrocoop  
• Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City  
• Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain   
• Soul Reaver 2  
• Jak 3  
• Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune  
• Forspoken   

Jennifer Hale:

Jennifer Hale is a noted voice actress, best known for her work in games such as Baldur’s Gate, Mass Effect, and Overwatch, along with several animated series and The Hex Girls. (My inner child and lover of Scooby Doo, is screaming) 

She has been nominated for several awards for her voice acting, such as her performance as Commander Shepard in Mass Effect and Rivet in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. What’s more, Hale even earned a spot in the Guinness World Records in 2013, as the most noted video game voice actress.  

The most recent video game she has done voice acting for is ‘’Lilith’’ in Marvel’s Midnight Suns. 

Notable Games:

• Baldur’s Gate – ‘’Dynaheir’’ 
• Mass Effect – ‘’Commander Shepard’’ 
• Metal Gear Solid – ‘’Naomi Hunter’’ 
• Bioshock Infinite – ‘’Rosalind Lutece’’ 
• Overwatch – ‘’Ashe’’ 
• Star Wars: Knights of the Republic – ‘’Bastila Shan’’ 

Lisa Su:

Lisa Su is the president and CEO of AMD. Appointed in 2014, she has been a driving force in developing cutting-edge AMD products for gaming PCs, video game consoles, and much more.  

Throughout her career, she has paved the way for new products and technologies in the gaming industry. This includes creating a nine-processor chip, which would later be used to power the PlayStation 3.  

Her achievements have been recognised for several different awards. In fact, she is the first woman to achieve the IEEE Robert Noyce Medal in 2021, a noted achievement in the microelectronics industry.  

Notable Achievements:  

• Achieved ‘2014 Executive of the Year’  
• Named as one of the ‘50 Most Powerful Women in Technology’ in 2016 
• Achieved the UPWARD ‘Women of the Year’ award in 2018 
• In 2021, she was admitted into the Women in Technology Hall of Fame 

Bonnie Ross:

Bonnie Ross is a video game developer, known for her role as head of 343 Industries, the studio behind the infamous Halo franchise.  

She began her career in the gaming industry at Microsoft, working on games such as Zoo Tycoon, Psychonauts, and Mass Effect. It was only when the developers of Halo, Bungie, split from Microsoft, that she began overseeing 343 Industries.  

What’s more, alongside her work at 343 Industries, Bonnie Ross has been influential in getting more women into the gaming industry. Ross helped found the Microsoft Women in Gaming community, worked in the #SheCanSTEM campaign, and has been a consistent voice in why more women and young people should go into video game development.  

Notable Games:

• Zoo Tycoon  
• Mass Effect 
• Psychonauts 
• Gears of War  
• Halo  

Kim Swift:  

Kim Swift is a noted video game developer, best known for her work on games such as Portal and Left 4 Dead.  

Her journey into the gaming industry began when she and a group of graduates created ‘Narbacular Drop’ a portal-based game, which they later presented to Valve. Valve immediately hired Kim and the rest of the group to begin the development of Portal.  

Swift later left Valve and has gone on to work for Airtight Games, Amazon, EA, and even Google Stadia.  

Notable Games:

• Half-Life 2: Episode Two 
• Portal  
• Left 4 Dead 
• Left 4 Dead 2  
• Star Wars: Battlefront II  

Who Do You Stan?

There are so many fantastic women working in the gaming industry. We know we have definitely missed so many! If we missed off your favourite or someone you think is worthy of a shout out – be sure to leave a comment down below.