“Changing behaviors among a large segment of people is difficult. Progress of this size always takes time; however, a 6.5% gain in gender share over a two year period is a trend in the right direction. If two years from now, females grab an additional 6% in share, esports viewership will be in gender split parity with what we consider standard among traditional console and PC games. As an industry, more progress will be made as females’ role in traditional esports titles continue to grow, given the efforts from some of the industry leaders. More likely than not, a lot of that growth may come in non-traditional esport genres, and especially games tailored to mobile and tablet devices.”
– Tia Christianson, VP of Research (EMEA), Interpret
ADDITIONAL DATA
- Female esports watchers have a 30% share compared to all eSports watchers; however, it has consistently gained gender share nearly every quarter since 2016. with a total growth of 6% over the last 2 years.
- Of those that play games considered an esport on Console/PC, only 35% are female, of those that consider themselves esports watchers, 30%, and of those that watch esports leagues, 20%.
- Casual Gaming, however (defined as those who log many hours on mobile and few on PC/Console) is dominated by females (66%).
- Extremely low female involvement in major esports titles like CS:GO (24% Female), DOTA 2 (20% Female), Hearthstone (26% Female), Rainbow 6: Siege (23% Female), and even Overwatch (26% Female) highlights the core challenge in attracting more female esports fans.
- The slow increase in traditional female fanship of esports may be due to an increased prevalence of mobile games in competitive gaming. According to Skillz, a platform that offers mobile competitive gaming and boasts a large selection of casual games, 7 of the top 10 mobile earners on their platform in 2018 were female.
- Skillz has shown us that one of the keys to increasing female participation in esports or competitive gaming may be through mobile and tablet devices, with games in non-traditional esports genres.
