For women looking to get into the video game industry, it may be daunting. But rest assured, there are role models to be found. If you are looking for some inspirational role models in the gaming industry, here is the list of four incredible and successful women to know in the gaming industry.
- Bonnie Ross: Ross is the Corporate Vice President at Microsoft and the head of 343 Industries. This means that she is the queen of the Halo kingdom. She founded 343 Industries along with the studio that manages the full Halo franchise. Her job includes operating the business side of the studio. That’s a lot of responsibility and authority, considering that Halo is to borrow Bloomberg’s words, Microsoft’s biggest video game ever.
- Kiki Wolfkill: Wolfkill is the studio head at Hallo Transmedia in 343 Industries. She made major contributions to the creation of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn and her job focuses on the Halo universe. These contributions involved helping in script writing, developing the story, and creating the new Promethean enemy class. She adds supervising digital cross-media Halo entertainment, producing and managing Halo: Nightfall. Developing the Halo Channel is among her other accomplishments.
- Jennifer Hale: Someone has to voice the characters in the video game, and Jennifer voices a number of most recognizable female voices out there. In fact, the New Yorker called her “the Meryl Streep of the medium,” which, depicts she must be good. Most recently, she did the voice for Sharon Carter in Lego Marvel Avengers, Sarah Palmer in Halo: Guardians and Pellinore in World of Final Fantasy.
- Corrinne Yu: Yu is a gaming programmer. Recently she is the main development manager at Amazon Prime Air. Earlier, she worked as the graphics programmer at Naughty Dog, the head engine programmer for Halo, and the studio-wide director of technology at Gearbox Software. In 2010, Kotaku named her as one of the ten most influential women in the gaming industry in the previous decade, and it looks like she proceeds to live up to the honor years later. Currently, she sits on the SIGGRAPH Game Development Committee, the Microsoft Graphics Advisory Board.
Who are your women role models in the game industry? Want to encourage more women to know about the gaming industry? Tell us in the comments section or Tweet us @essjay_ent!
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Awesome! Women in Tech rule, and we need more of them. Sharing success stories is a great way to break the stereotypes, and help define a more inclusive view of the industry.
Thank you for sharing.
Kiki Wolfkill sounds like a badass name! I hope she’s not a terror boss LOL! Kudos to all these women!
Girl power! I wish more women would get involved in gaming. Let’s break the stereotype ladies1
There are plenty of inspiring women in the gaming industry. Besides the women listed above, there are also other great voice actresses that helped play a role as some of our favourite gaming heroines. Some great VAs are Hellena Taylor who voices the gorgeous Bayonetta, and Courtnee Draper who voiced Elizabeth from Bioshock: Infinite.
It’s nice that they are known because I only know guys that are into gaming and these women, they’re making a name now.
They’re so inspiring because they know their passion and eventually make it into reality!
So inspiring… The stereotype about women in gaming is definitely true after all. These women are so badass!
Thanks for giving credit to these awesome women. Too bad I don’t know any other women role models in the industry.
I agree women empowerment is a must in whatever industry. I salute women who ventures in male fields.
As i always say Gaming knows no gender nor boundaries.In fact some of the renowned voices in related fields are women. Take for example Son Goku is voiced by an 80 year old grandma.
SJE is a woman-owned company and I thought they’d let International Women’s Day pass by without an article on it. I salute these trailblazing women who are truly worth emulating by all gamer girls. Kudos!
See guys, there’s lots of opportunities for women in the gaming industry! It’s not just about programming and coding. I’d love to be a voice talent like Jennifer Hale!