Women, AI and the game industry of Bulgaria

"Humans at Play” is the first national survey of the gaming industry in Bulgaria demonstrating the presence of a creative ecosystem shaping skills and the motivation to work on games among 1) professionals creating games as a career, 2) the general public and 3) the creative professionals from the larger cultural and creative industries (CCI) sector. It is based on data obtained from over 1300 Bulgarian game professionals, players (audiences) and CCI professionals who are interested in or already collaborate with game studios or use gamification in their art forms and cultural work. Next to three anonymous online surveys and three focus groups, an in-depth focus group was organised to especially analyse the women involved in the game industry. 

 

 

The video game industry is closely associated with the IT industry; therefore, gender research reveals similar traits. The "Humans at Play” data regarding the context in Bulgaria are particularly interesting taking into account its high percentage of ICT trained female workforce. Official EUROSTAT 2024  data is indicating Bulgarian women accounted for 29.1 % of ICT specialists in 2023 — the highest share among the EU Member States. 

 

Among the factors producing gender inequalities and impacting career (non) choice in the digital gaming industry are the existing biases around gender and game preference (Lange et al, 2021). In addition, internationally women developers are found to experience less incentives for growth, potentially due to their underrepresentation in technical jobs and to the dominant male culture in the corporate structure (Drummond et al 2022). 

 

Data obtained from professionals who responded to the ‘’Humans at Play’’ 2023 survey only partially support the bias surrounding a large gender-based discrepancy. The women respondents (a total of 17), are mostly working with the Visual arts skills set (58.82%), however they are also engaged in Game design (23.53%). Community management (17.65%) came third and the fourth position was shared between programming and user interface roles (each with 11.76%). Moreover, nearly half of the female respondents hold a university degree relevant to their job in the video game industry. They also proved as committed as male colleagues to stay in the industry, 29.41% indicating to have done additional training (online or offline), while 17.65% had engaged in self-training through videos and online tools. 

 

The data suggested that women in Bulgaria form a talent pool leveraging both tech and arts skills as well as demonstrating sufficient interest in the game industry. In order to validate these findings, in 2024 the analysis was enriched by a selected focus group of female game professionals (a total of 7). Most of them were involved in the business development and promotion/marketing aspects of the industry such as streaming, game industry events, business development, IP management while two represented mid-career professionals using artistic skills set (3D art, scriptwriting) (Figure 1). 

 

 

The respondents confirmed there is a good number of women employed in the creative and in the business roles of the Bulgarian game industry. They had not witnessed gender inequality in the technical teams, asserting that hires were merit-based. A respondent, working in one of the larger game studios in Bulgaria, shared that the quality assurance team was primarily composed of women while there were also experienced female programmers in the developer team. Comparing professional trajectories to their male counterparts, none of the respondents felt that there was any gender bias in career development. The only gender-bias reported a female streamer of gaming content who claimed there are still male audiences who would ‘in principle’ not watch women playing video games. A large European player research proves there is ’’a strong overestimations of actual gender differences (in games as well as in movies)’’ which resonates with recent trends of women becoming a significant factor in terms of not only consuming but also developing, producing and distributing new cultural media content (Lange et al, 2021; Koleva P. et al, 2021) 

 

In summary, there is ground to challenge the dominant perception of game development for the future as being a ‘man’s world’. The female quotient is of specific relevance to the future of game diversity and regards content, players and cross-innovation in other sectors. Even more, the data suggest there is a favourable disposition towards the game industry also among female artists and creatives. 

 

 

A staggering 83% of women creatives found their professional experience to be relevant to the video game industry (see Figure 7). About half of them (45.45%) expressed interest in professional development in the video game industry, while a quarter of them being unaware of such opportunities despite being interested. 

 

 

A very high percentage, 65.15% of women creatives, have already integrated contemporary technology into their work, and 1/3 of them have created gamification, while two thirds have done so in collaboration with professionals from the technological field. An interesting fact, confirmed by a female creator, is that the artistic challenge to develop their own game is the key driver, while public appreciation is secondary. 

 

There is significant interest to develop professionally in the video game industry also among the women among the general public. While a percentage of 44.91% is lower than that of men (58.88%), it is significant and signals a trend that would serve to bridge the gender gap in the industry with suitable support measures. (The common trend is indicated in Figure 6 of Part 1) Similar to men, most women are motivated by the opportunity for creative expression (80.84%), followed by interest to work with technology - 54.49%. This percentage is close to that of men (57.18%) and validates the fact women express an equal share of interest in the technology skills set. A good remuneration is awarded the same importance as working in tech - 54.49%. The ‘’createch’’ term, the Creative Business Network, and respective, Cup awards specifically address entrepreneurship in industries such as games and film where females may soon enjoy a separate category.

 

The "Humans at Play" study confirmed women players/public are already enhancing skills relevant to the video game industry. About a quarter of them (23.95%) state they develop skills in Visual arts that is followed by those working on Programming skills (9.58%). By comparison, for men Visual arts (14.48%) are ranked secondary to Programming skills they develop (19.46%) which mirrors the current context of gendered opportunities and stimuli found in international research. 

 

Given the ‘latent’ interest of women and the active engagement of female creatives and game professionals with developing games or gamification, to what extent is the European gaming industry diversifying its talent base - particularly in view of the 2024 layoffs in the industry worldwide? The short answer is that demand for qualified game developers in the long-term is likely to continue. Only in Sweden, another 25.000 game developers were estimated to be demanded in the next seven years. Currently, just 23% of students in Sweden in game training are women, while over 50% of talent employed by the industry is international (Swedish Games Industry 2023). 

 

Similarly, the 2024 ‘White paper on game education and game industry skills‘ of the European Games Developer Federation makes a recommendation on closing the gender gap. This echoes the European Council conclusions that foresee EU measures promoting games as a training and career development opportunity for women (EGDF 2024, EC 2023). However, the pressing topic for everyone since 2023 was AI and to engage females in the discussion was a research decision informed by the fact there is generally less knowledge and representation of women artists too. 

 

The fact, there is a creative ecosystem in Europe and locally in Bulgaria maybe self-obvious to policy makers but to the general public and even among studios this is not a well-established notion. In 2024 the wide publicity surrounding the BAFTA 2024 Music brought formal recognition for artists as central to the success of a game, in the name of Borislav Slavov and also the musicians and singers engaged locally. Yet, his name and the one of the very well established female composer Penka Kuneva (credited on 29 games and Film awarded composer) is rather less known, in spite of a public concert on video games music in Sofia back in 2018. Few people, even in the game industry recall this evidence of a rather glocal creative ecosystem backing game creation.

 

 

The public event organised for the ‘’Humans At Play” study and policy recommendations in October 2023 included a special roundtable with game professionals to outline their perspective on the future of the skills and game development. Unsurprisingly, this was a pure male group - two game designers, three heads of studios, programmers and one professor at a higher education institution training game professionals. The most discussed topic (demanded by the audience as well) revolved around the way AI would impact the landscape of careers and competition. It was additionally discussed with the seven women representatives in the 2024 study. 

 

Overall, both genders present the same attitudes towards generative AI, viewing it as a positive factor from the perspective of people working in the industry. Currently, the professionals share that they use text generating AI in script writing to improve their language skills as non-native speakers. Others employ it in the game engine, or as a tool that is automating some actions such as animating movements on characters or working in multiplication or less prominent visualisation elements. 

 

Professionals expect that in the near future generative AI will support their work through taking over some ‘administrative’ tasks, leaving more space for creative collaboration involving humans, e.g. gameplay. There is also expectation this would boost the indie studios. This is coherent with international foresight, (Simon Torkington 2023). However, in Bulgaria, as in the EU, it is considered that EU support should be "fostering the start-up scene to adapt to the latest technologies and innovations to game development, or cooperate with other creative industries.” Overall, will the EU maintain its global share of the industry is dependent not only on talent but also on capacity to be competitive at large (Hiltunen KP, 2024). Investing in CCI innovation is one of the aspects in focus for SEE (Alexander V. and Peterson G.O. 2023).

 

 

Our study confirms that women already rival men in seeking opportunities for professional development in the field of video games. Their positive attitude towards the industry is backed by relevant skills acquired. Involving more women in the industry would bring forth more diversity not only in teams but also in game content, which would in turn attract new audiences and users to these creative products. 

 

 

The analysis presented here is the result of the 2022-2023 project "Humans at Play: Creators and Users” and the continued research efforts of Intercultura Consult in collaboration with over 20 partners from the academic, creative and the industry sectors in Bulgaria and the SEE region. Additionally, researched in 2024 were aspects that highlight the EU comparative dimensions. Public presentations in English have been made in the 2024 video ‘’Humans at Play: Skills & Motivation in the Games Industry as Part of the Creative Ecosystems’’ for the Nordic Game Conference as well as within an EU supported project boosting regional innovation ecosystem SPECTRA. 

 

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