Two factors prompted me to assemble this pithy list of 50 Game Industry Women to Know. The first is that our Frag Doll site will be under construction for the next week and will not be updated with daily content. Consequently, we needed a blog entry deserving of a whole week’s worth of attention. Since I’ve been wanting to do this kind of piece for a while, I figured there would be no better time to give props to some of the most badass women from around the video game industry. The second factoring motivation was a recent encounter I had with a Top 50 People in the Game Industry list that had ZERO women on it. ZERO!!! And it was a list in a major game industry magazine!!! I am still baffled. In the midst of my initial shock, I could name at least a dozen women off the top of my head who would vie for a spot on any Game Industry Top 50 list, so it’s impossible for me to comprehend how the compilers of that particular list did not manage to think of a single one.

Many rants, deep breaths, and counting-to-10s later, I decided to help balance the score by creating my own list of the female movers and shakers in our industry. This is certainly not the first list of its kind, as there have been several Most Influential Women lists over the years. But until game industry women get equal recognition for their accomplishments, I figure that one more list of stand-out ladies might contribute to our industry’s evolution beyond the Boys’ Club mentality. And for you female gamers out there who have never looked over a list like this, I urge you to at least scan this one. If you have ever harbored any dreams of one day working in the game industry, a list like this might as well be a role model roll call.

To be clear, I do not claim that this is an objective list of “the most influential” women in games. I’m not sure that such a list can be objective in the first place, and I’m sure that I don’t know of all the women doing important things in the game industry. Contrary to what some Top 50 lists would have you think, there are actually way more than 50 badass women working in the game industry or studying games in the academy, so selecting only 50 is tough even with my imperfect knowledge. Instead of trying to judge levels of influence, I am calling this a list of “Women to Know” because I can guarantee that every woman mentioned here is worth knowing.

The list is subjective and partial, and these names are not ranked but are listed alphabetically by first name. I have intentionally left female gamer representatives off of this list because we already focus on them a lot on this site and I wanted to take the opportunity to broaden our scope. I also limited it (mostly) to women based in North America. There are plenty of great women in games from other parts of the world, but pulling together an International Women To Know list would be incredibly overwhelming, so I’ve limited it this time.

A great majority of the information here was collected from the GDC 2010 Speakers List. If you find my list intriguing, the GDC site would be a wonderful wealth of information for you.

50 Game Industry Women To Know

Amy Hennig
Creative Director
Naughty Dog, Inc.
Claim to fame: Amy was most recently the Creative Director on the Uncharted franchise, and JAK 3 before that. Prior to working with Naughty Dog, Inc., Amy was a Director for Crystal Dynamics where she worked on the Legacy of Kain franchise. She has been in the game industry for 20 years.

AJ Glasser
News Editor
GamePro Media
Claim to fame: AJ recently joined the print ranks of GamePro Magazine, and has previously written for gaming news outlets from around the web, including Kotaku, GamesRadar.com, MegaGames, MMORPG.com, the Official Xbox Magazine, and Nintendo Power. She is an avid gamer with a masters in journalism from Stanford University.

Alyssa Finley
Studio Head
2K Marin, a 2K studio
Claim to fame: Alyssa is the Studio Head of 2K Marin, who just released Bioshock 2 and she was the Project Lead for Bioshock at Irrational Games. Her portfolio also includes Development Director on Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and Technical Director/Project Manager on Pool of Radiance II. She has been in the game industry since 1992.

Amanda Crispel
President and CEO
Hoozinga Studios
Claim to fame: In addition to founding Hoozinga Studios, she is Program Director of the Game Design & Game Art and Animation at Champlain College. Her portfolio includes work on popular PC CD-ROM game lines like Carmen Sandiego, Leapfrog, and Rugrats.

Amy Jo Kim
CEO
Shufflebrain
Claim to fame: Amy Jo Kim is a design specialist in social gaming environments, and she has contributed to the design of projects including Rock Band, eBay, and There.com. In addition to being CEO of Shufflebrain, she is also an adviser at metaplace.com and an Associate Professor at USC.

Berglind Gudmundsdottir
Software Engineer and Configuration Manager
CCP
Claim to fame: Berglind has worked on various large development projects for EVE Online including wormholes and factional warfare, as well as building and managing tools for development, code management and deployment.

Bonnie Nardi
Professor and Researcher
UC Irvine, Department of Informatics
Claim to fame: Bonnie is a full professor at UC Irvine and researches human-computer interaction and collaboration in World of Warcraft. She specializes in the use of ethnographic methods in the study of culture and technology. Her work with players and guilds in World of Warcraft will be published in book form later this year.

Bonnie Ruberg
Journalist
heroine-sheik.com
Claim to fame: Bonnie is a freelance journalist who specializes in video games, technology, and gender/sexuality. She maintains her own site, heroine-sheik.com, while contributing to publications like The Economist, Forbes, PC World, and SF Weekly. She sits on the steering committee of the Women in Games International. Bonnie can be followed at twitter.com/myownvelouria.

Brenda Brathwaite
Creative Director
Slide
Claim to fame: A world-renown game designer, Brenda has worked on 22 internationally known titles (including Def Jam, Dungeons & Dragons, Jagged Alliance and Wizardry series) with companies like Electronic Arts and Atari. She is a regular conference speaker, the former Chair of Interactive Design and Game Development at Savannah College of Art & Design, and a current IGDA board member. She is presently building a series of six gallery games for an installation titled The Mechanic is the Message, and can be followed at twitter.com/bbrathwaite.

Bronwen Grimes
Technical Artist
Valve Software
Claim to fame: Bronwen began her career as an environment artist at Pseudo Interactive working on Full Auto and Full Auto 2. Most recently she has contributed to the Left 4 Dead franchise with Valve. Bronwen will be presenting at GDC this year about the use of shaders developed for the production of Left 4 Dead 2 to save time and memory, and about shipping a successful sequel inside of a single year.

Cammie Dunaway
Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Nintendo of America
Claim to fame: As if her current title doesn’t carry enough weight on its own, Cammie was the Chief Marketing Officer of Yahoo! before going to Nintendo. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School. 

Caroline Esmurdoc
Executive Producer & COO
Double Fine Productions
Claim to fame: Since being with Double Fine Productions as Executive Producer and COO, Caroline has contributed to critically acclaimed games Psychonauts and Brütal Legend. Prior to her accomplishments with Double Fine, Caroline founded Circus Freak Studios in 2001. Caroline can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/princesschxhead

Celia Pearce
Director and Researcher
Experimental Game Lab, Georgia Institute of Technology
Claim to fame: Celia is a well-known, multi-hyphenate, designer, researcher, teacher, and artist who specializes in multiplayer gaming and virtual worlds. She is currently Assistant Professor of Digital Media in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture at Georgia Tech, where she also directs the Experimental Game Lab and the Emergent Game Group. She is also Festival Chair for IndieCade. (Bonus points for Redhead Power).

Christa Phillips
Xbox LIVE Community Manager
Microsoft Xbox
Claim to fame: Christa, known among gamers as TriXie360, is not only the community manager for more than 17 million Xbox players, she is also an active advocate for female gamers. She speaks regularly at industry conferences about gender in gaming and helped to found the Xbox GamerchiX, a social group for women who play. Her popular Twitter profile (twitter.com/triXie360)gives exposure to the trials and rewards of juggling a new baby and a game industry career.

Corrinne Yu
Principal Engine Programmer
Microsoft Game Studios
Claim to fame: Corrinne is currently the Principal Engine Programmer for the Halo Franchise Team within Microsoft. According to Wikipedia she is the first and only female Technical Lead of the whole of Microsoft Game Studios. Prior to working at Microsoft, she programmed as the Director of Platform Technology of Gearbox Software and worked on games including Borderlands and Brothers in Arms.

Deborah Mars
Managing Producer
Sony Computer Entertainment America
Claim to fame: Deb joined SCEA in 2002 and among her many projects, one of her focuses has been the development of fresh, unique, and innovative games on the PlayStation Network. Recently, she is one of the key figures behind bringing us some of our PlayStation Network favorites including 2009’s incredible Fat Princess!

Erin Hoffman
Lead Designer | Designer
HumaNature Studios | Philomath Games
Claim to fame: Erin is a game designer specializing in MMOs, action-RPGs, and children’s games. She is also currently on the IGDA Board of Directors as Chair of the Online Games committee. She received international attention in 2004 when she anonymously published a blog as “EA_Spouse” that condemned the work practices and poor quality of life at Electronic Arts. She maintains the industry watchdog site Gamewatch.org.

Fiona Cherbak
President/Partner | Chair
ThemePark Studios | Women in Games Special Interest Group, IGDA
Claim to fame: A long time advocate of women in games, Fiona is a founding member of Women in Games International, and the Chair of the Women in Games SIG for the International Game Developers Association. She is also President and Partner at Rocket Recruiting.

Heather Chandler
Founder and Executive Producer
Media Sunshine, Inc.
Claim to fame: During her 12 years of production experience in the game industry, Heather has worked as a Producer for Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Activision. Before starting her own studio in Media Sunshine, Inc., her portfolio grew to include work on over 35 games like Civilization: Call to Power and the first seven games in the Ghost Recon series (including Ghost Recon 2 and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter).

Heather Kelley
Founder and Game Designer
Kokoromi
Claim to fame: Heather is a game designer who previously worked on commercial titles like Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory with Ubisoft and Thief: Deadly Shadows with Ion Storm. She now works on experimental and non-traditional game design through her work with Hexagram Institute for Research. She also co-founded Kokoromi, an experimental art game collective.

Holly Hirzel
Executive Producer
Microsoft Game Studios
Claim to fame: Holly’s most recent game project is 1 vs. 100 on Xbox LIVE. She has 14 years of experience as a Producer/Project Manager in video games, working for Sony before joining Microsoft.

Jade Raymond
President of Ubisoft, Toronto
Ubisoft Entertainment
Claim to fame: Jade is most recently known for her work as Executive Producer of Assassin’s Creed 2 and, before that, the Producer of Assassin’s Creed 1. In July, 2009, she was named President of the newly established Ubisoft Toronto studio.

Jane Fraser
QA Director
Electronic Arts
Claim to fame: Jane is the director of Quality Assurance Department for Pogo.com, as well as the director of Quality Assurance for social gaming at Electronic Arts. She has 15 years of experience in testing and specializes in online games and social networking.

Jane McGonigal
Director of Game Research & Development
Institute for the Future
Claim to fame: Jane is a game designer and games researcher specializing in alternate reality games and “happiness hacking”. Her games focus on multiplayer and collaborative aspects. One of her most noteworthy game industry contributions was her work with game design company 42 Entertainment on the I Love Bees project designed to promote Halo 2. Follow her at twitter.com/avantgame

Jane Pinckard
Founder, Administrator, and Writer
GameGirlAdvance.com
Claim to fame: Jane is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of GameGirlAdvance.com, a website she started to “bring alternative perspectives to video game culture.” She is also a former writer and producer from 1Up.com. Jane speaks regularly at conferences and universities about gender and game culture. During the day she is now a Business Development Analyst for Foundation 9 Entertainment.

Kathleen Sanders
Community Manager - XNA Community
Microsoft
Claim to fame: As community manager for XNA, Kathleen organizes the development efforts and products of independent designers using the XNA toolset. Prior to working for Microsoft, Kathleen was a producer for the 1UP Show and News Editor for IGN Entertainment. You can find Kathleen on Twitter.com/ninjaharlot.

Kellee Santiago
President and Co-Founder
thatgamecompany
Claim to fame: Kellee co-founded thatgamecompany with Jenova Chen, a fellow student at USC’s Interactive Media Program, after they garnered critical acclaim for their student-created game, Cloud. After forming their own studio, Kellee proceeded to guide the development of fl0w and Flower, both award-winning games that communicate non-traditional emotional experiences. She is now a regular conference speaker and advocate for women in games and innovation in game design.

Kim Swift
Level Designer
Airtight Games
Claim to fame: Kim is best known for her work as level designer and team lead on Portal, a game included in The Orange Box by Valve. She is also noted for her participation in the GDC Game Design Challenge of 2009 to design a game around the concept of “My First Time” and she will participate again this year by designing for “Real-World Permadeath.” Kim left Valve for Airtight Games in December, 2009.

Laralyn McWilliams
Creative Director
Sony Online Entertainment
Claim to fame: Laralyn is currently the creative director for FREE REALMS, a free massively-multiplayer game (MMO) designed for the entire family, at Sony Online Entertainment LLC’s headquarters in San Diego. She has worked on a diverse range of games in different capacities, including being lead designer on Full Spectrum Warrior. Laralyn began her career in the video game industry in the early 1990s.

Leigh Alexander
News Director
Gamasutra
Claim to fame: Leigh is news director at Gamasutra. She maintains the Sexy Videogameland blog, contributes a monthly column on social issues and culture surrounding games and gamers at Kotaku, and freelances reviews for a variety of consumer outlets. She is most recently noted for her popular yet controversial GamePro article tackling the potential interpretations of Bayonetta as empowering and/or exploitative of women.

Lisa Jensen
Vice President, Global Public Relations
Blizzard Entertainment
Claim to fame: Lisa has been doing public relations for Blizzard for almost nine years, making her one of the most powerful women at one of the most powerful companies in the video game industry. Prior to joining Blizzard in 2001, Lisa did PR for Interplay Entertainment and Virgin Interactive Entertainment.

Lucy Bradshaw
Vice President and Executive Producer, Maxis
Electronic Arts
Claim to fame: Lucy has been with Maxis and Electronic Arts since 1997. In that time she has worked on Spore, The Sims 2, SimCity4, and others. She has played a significant role in the development of The Sims franchise. She is also a regular speaker at Women in Games International and the National Youth Foundation.

Megan Gaiser
President & CEO
Her Interactive
Claim to fame: Since joining Her Interactive in 1997, Megan has led the company to success through their development of the Nancy Drew PC game franchise. The series has won numerous awards and is noteworthy as pioneering work in the development of gameplay targeted towards female play preferences.

Meghan Rodberg
Senior Manager of Online Community Relations
Turbine
Claim to fame: Also known by the screen name of “Patience” in her online communities, Meghan oversees all the community initiatives for the massively-multiplayer games based on two of the world’s largest media brands, The Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons. Using her long history as a gamer and online customer support manager to help her juggle the communities for these hugely popular brands, Meghan has become one of the most well-respected figures in online game community management today. Follow her at twitter.com/70ms

Mia Consalvo
Associate Professor & Graduate Director
School of Media Arts & Studies, Ohio University
Claim to fame: Mia is a games researcher who has published her work about games and game culture, including Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames (MIT Press, 2007). She is a regular conference speaker and is on the steering committee of Women in Games International.

Michelle Hinn
Accessibility Consultant
Information in Place, Inc.
Claim to fame: Michelle is an outspoken advocate of women in games and gamers with disabilities. She is an accessibility designer and consultant for multiple organizations including Information in Place, Inc., Vtree, the 2010 ELAN Awards, and the IGDA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group (as Chair). (Bonus points for Redhead Power). Follow her on twitter.com/vrgrrl.

Nicole Lazarro
Founder and President
XEO Design, Inc.
Claim to fame: Nicole Lazzaro is the Founder and President of XEODesign, Inc. Since founding XEODesign in 1992 Nicole’s design and research has improved over 40 million player experiences, including several popular franchises for casual audiences such as three of the Myst Series, Diner Dash, GoPets, Cosmopolitan Virtual Makeover, Mavis Beacon teaches Typing, Jeopardy Online, as well as creativity coaching for the designers of The Sims.

Rhianna Pratchett
Freelance Scriptwriter and Narrative Designer
Independent
Claim to fame: Rhianna is an award-winning writer, story designer and narrative paramedic, whose games include the entire Overlord series, Heavenly Sword, Mirror’s Edge, Viking: Battle for Asgard, and Risen, along with the Mirror’s Edge miniseries with DC Comics.

Robin Hunicke
Producer & Game Designer
thatgamecompany
Claim to fame: Robin specializes in creating and producing new IP for new audiences. Formerly at Electronic Arts (MySims, BoomBlox) she’s thrilled to have joined thatgamecompany, creators of the award-winning games flOw and Flower for PS3. Robin co-organizes the annual Experimental Gameplay Sessions and teaches each year at the 2-day Game Design Workshop tutorial session. She has worked with the IGDA Education SIG since its inception, and is finishing a PhD in AI at Northwestern University. (Bonus points for Redhead Power).

Sarah Anderson
Senior Vice President of Marketing
2K, Take Two Interactive
Claim to fame: Sarah has been with 2K for five years and has influenced the marketing for every game from 2K Games and 2K Sports to through that time. Prior to joining 2K, she worked with Kuma Reality Games, Acclaim Entertainment and Sega. She has been in the game industry since 1992.

Shannon Studstill
Owner and President
Broodworks
Claim to fame: Shannon founded her own studio, Broodworks, in June, 2009. Before taking off on her own she built and illustrious portfolio as Executive Producer on games like God of War I and II, Warhawk, and multiple Twisted Metal titles. Broodworks is currently working on their first game.

Sheri Graner Ray
Co-Founder and Executive Chair
Women in Games International
Claim to fame: Sheri is one of the foremost experts and advocates about gender and games. She founded Women in Games International and has both organized and participated in numerous industry conferences. She is currently a Senior Designer at Schell Games in Austin, Texas, and has previously worked with companies like Electronic Arts, Sony Online Entertainment, and Cartoon Network.

Siobhan Reddy
Studio Director
Media Molecule
Claim to fame: Prior to becoming Media Molecule’s Studio Director, Siobhan was executive producer for Little Big Planet. Her work as part of Media Molecule has contributed to the studio’s reputation for valuing creativity above all else. Before joining Media Molecule, Siobhan was a Senior Development Manager with Criterion/Electronic Arts.

Stephanie Barish
Owner and Partner
IndieCade, Inc.
Claim to fame: Stephanie is most recently noted for her work as Founder and President of Creative Media Collaborative / IndieCade, an international festival for independent games. In 1999, she founded and created the blueprint for the Annenberg Center for Communications’ Institute for Multimedia Literacy (IML), urged by George Lucas. She continues to foster innovations in multimedia expression through her work with IndieCade.

Susan O’Connor
Game Writer
Susan O’Connor Writing Studio
Claim to fame: Susan is an award-winning writer who creates worlds, plots, characters and scripts for video games. She has contributed to first-person shooters, action-adventure titles, RTS, RPGs and open-world games in a variety of genres, including sci-fi, fantasy, horror, action, thriller, mystery and crime. Past titles include Far Cry 2, BioShock and Gears of War.

Suzanne Seggerman
President
Games for Change
Claim to fame: Suzanne is co-founder and co-Executive Director of Games for Change, whose mission is to provide support, visibility and shared resources to individuals and organizations using digital games for social change. Formed in 2004 as a sub-group of the Serious Games Initiative, G4C’s members represent hundreds of organizations in the games industry, academia, the non-profit sector, local and state governments, foundations, the UN and the arts - all working to create games about the important issues of our day, including poverty, global conflicts, the environment.

Tara Teich
Senior Programmer
Double Fine Productions
Claim to fame: Tara was most recently working as a programmer at Double Fine on Brutal Legend. Prior to that, she was the Lead AI and Gameplay Engineer on LucasArts’ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. She has been working on AI and gameplay since 2000.

TL Taylor
Associate Professor and Researcher
Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen
Claim to fame: T.L. has been working in the field of internet and multi-user studies for over fifteen years and has published on topics such as values in design, intellectual property, co-creative practices, game software modification, play as assemblage, avatars and online embodiment, play and experience in online worlds, gender and gaming, and pervasive gaming. Her book Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture (MIT Press, 2006) uses her multi-year ethnography of EverQuest to explore issues related to massively multiplayer spaces. She is currently at work on a book about professional computer gaming (MIT Press, forthcoming).

Tracy Fullerton
Associate Professor
USC Interactive Media
Claim to fame: Tracy is a game designer, educator and writer with fifteen years of professional experience. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Interactive Media Division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she is Director of the Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab and holder of the Electronic Arts Endowed Chair in Interactive Entertainment. Tracy is the author of Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, a design textbook in use at game programs worldwide. Recent credits include faculty advisor for the award-winning student games Cloud, flOw, Darfur is Dying and The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, and game designer for The Night Journey a unique game/art project with artist Bill Viola.

Trina Schwimmer
Owner, Administrator, and Writer
GamingAngels.com
Claim to fame: GamingAngels.com was born in 2003 as a video game cosplay site and transformed in 2006 to an online gaming community. Today GamingAngels.com is more than just gaming. With the help of her team, Trina has created a community where women the love all things geek can speak freely about their hobby. Trina has appeared on panels and been interviewed about her strong opinions about women in gaming and technology fields