"Women are the new core": Microsoft exec calls for greater diversity

Microsoft narrative designer Tom Abernathy has discussed diversity in a GDC panel, stressing that games spanning a wide spectrum of ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation is good for business. He has called on the industry to broaden its view.

GI.biz reports that Abernathy recalled his own experience of gender equality in games and expressed his frustration when trying to find games for his daughter that let her play as a female character. He would often end up empty-handed.

He added that while America now has a black president and that same-sex marriage has been approved in many states, that the games industry is yet to take such significant strides.

The female gamerbase is swelling, with adult feales making up 30% of the American gamer population, according to numbers from the Entertainment Software Association and research conducted by PopCap games. The so-called 'core demographic of males under 18 now makes up just 18% of the nation's players.

Tides are shifting, Abernathy suggested, "Women are not a small special market on the fringe of the core. Women are the new core.

"Our industry, our art, and our business stand to gain in every sense simply by holding a mirror up to our audience and reflecting their diversity in what we produce."

What do you make of the above? Should games be more considerate in their approach to who is behind the controller, regardless of creed, race, sex, age or orientation? Let us know below.