“The video game industry is out of step with contemporary media in terms of LGBTQ representation, and it is failing its LGBTQ customers. »
This sentiment has seemed true for years, and now statistics from GLAAD's first annual gaming report prove it. The media watchdog and advocacy group LGBTQ Today published GLAAD Gaming: The State of LGBTQ Inclusion in Video Games, offering a comprehensive analysis of the industry from the perspective of queer gamers and developers.
According to GLAAD, 17% of the total gaming audience identifies as LGBTQ, or about one in five gamers. This figure matches Gen Z statistics. Yet only 2% of all games on the market contain LGBTQ content, a much lower level of saturation than film, television and other forms of entertainment media . GLAAD found that 28.5% of films from the top 10 distributors in 2022 contained an LGBTQ character, and that LGBTQ characters appeared as series regulars at a rate of 10.6% on primetime scripted shows in 2022 and 2023.
For gaming stats, GLAAD crunched the numbers: As of November 2023, the Xbox store offered 146 games with LGBTQ content, while PlayStation offered a roster of 90 titles with LGBTQ themes and the Nintendo Switch eShop offered 50 games labeled LGBT. Steam had 2,302 English-language games under its LGBTQ+ tag, but that figure dropped to 1,506 when filtering out titles with “adult sexual content.” Together, these games made up less than 2 percent of the Xbox, Playstation, and Switch digital libraries, and they made up just 1.7 percent of Steam's offerings (excluding adult content). For context, it is estimated that about 1 percent of all games released in the 2010s included LGBTQ themes.
“Despite the significant progress we've seen, gaming remains woefully behind other forms of entertainment media in terms of representation,” said Blair Durkee, GLAAD's associate director of gaming.
The GLAAD report identified the following reasons behind the lack of LGBTQ representation in video games:
“Some reasons for exclusion are passive. Often, gaming companies haven't considered that they need to represent LGBTQ people, nor do they view us as an important part of the games' core audience. Some exclusion grounds are active. Companies fear repelling a target audience they assume is resistant or hostile to LGBTQ content. This imaginary target audience is a myth, however, and is one of the reasons why it was essential for GLAAD to create this gaming report. LGBTQ gamers make up a significant portion of the existing active player market, and overall, non-LGBTQ gamers are not as resistant to this content as many think.
More than 60% of non-LGBTQ respondents said they weren't bothered by LGBTQ protagonists and NPCs in their games, and 70% said they were OK with titles offering the ability to customize a bisexual, gay or lesbian character. Resistance to these themes diminishes with each new generation of gamers, GLAAD found.
One of the key takeaways from the report is the idea that developers appear to be creating games based on an outdated stereotype, rather than market reality. Straight, white, cisgender men certainly play video games, but the actual gaming audience is much more diverse and only becoming more variable.
“The lack of LGBTQ representation in video games is often explained by the assumption that the stereotypical primary consumer of video games is a white, heterosexual, cisgender male between the ages of 18 and 34,” GLAAD said. “However, our data shows that 17% of active gamers are LGBTQ, an increase of 70% from 10% in Neilsen Report 2020.”
This figure is even higher for young players, the next generation of players. About 25% of gamers under the age of 35 identify as LGBTQ, a higher concentration than reported in the general human population. This trend leads to another finding from GLAAD's gaming report: the idea that LGBTQ gamers are particularly drawn to games because they offer an immersive means of expression, experimentation, and escape.
“The interactive nature of games, the ability to build community in-game, and the long history of LGBTQ gaming industry professionals make this medium a unique and powerful tool for LGBTQ people to discover, connect, and express themselves safely,” said Sarah, President and CEO of GLAAD. Kate Ellis said. “Particularly for LGBTQ gamers, gaming can be not only an escape and source of entertainment, but also an important means of self-expression.”
In the GLAAD survey, 72% of LGBTQ gamers said that seeing characters of their gender identity or sexual orientation well represented made them feel better about themselves, and this figure was even higher among younger players. Overall, 36% of LGBTQ gamers said video games helped them discover their sexual orientation or gender identity, and that percentage rose to 41% among LGBTQ gamers of color. GLAAD notably found that gamers of color are less resistant to titles with queer content than white gamers.
More than 40% of LGBTQ gamers said video games helped them cope with the lack of acceptance in the real world. At the same time, 51% of LGBTQ gamers said they wish video games did more in terms of inclusion, and 74% want more opportunities to explore and express themselves in games.
“Gaming is a medium in which players can be anything, but the video game industry has continued to rely on very narrow representation options,” GLAAD said.
Transgender content encountered the most resistance among all respondents. Regarding LGBTQ gamers, 63% said they were more likely to buy a game featuring a bisexual, gay, or lesbian protagonist, while 46% said the same about a transgender main character. However, 94% of LGBTQ respondents said they were just as likely, or more likely, to purchase a game that included the option to play as a transgender protagonist. Among non-LGBTQ players, 80% responded the same way.
The importance of representation in video games has only grown amid an avalanche of anti-LGBTQ violence and legislation in the United States. In the first weeks of 2024, more than 500 Anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed or passed in the United States, the majority of which target transgender youth. This is already a dramatic increase compared to 2022 and 2021, two record years in terms of anti-LGBTQ legislation.
According to GLAAD, queer gamers are more likely than their counterparts to use gaming as a means of escape, and this is even more true for people living in states that have proposed or passed anti-LGBTQ legislation. While 66% of all LGBTQ gamers report using games to express themselves in ways they don't feel comfortable in the real world, that statistic rises to 75% for gamers living in states where anti-LGBTQ bills are proposed or active.
“For these LGBTQ gamers, gaming is necessary to deal with real-world discrimination and targeting,” GLAAD said in its report. “Game developers need to understand the role gaming plays for LGBTQ gamers in the United States and particularly for LGBTQ gamers in states where they are disproportionately targeted and attacked.”
Researchers offered the following recommendations for increasing LGBTQ representation in games:
The percentage of games with LGBTQ representation should be proportional to the share of LGBTQ players.
Game developers should strive for representation that promotes inclusion and acceptance.
The video game industry should take responsibility for making its communities more inclusive.
The video game industry should consult experts on LGBTQ media content.
LGBTQ gaming industry workers should be hired into positions of authority.
Among all the percentages, GLAAD identified a clear trend in its first gaming report: representation matters a lot to most LGBTQ gamers, and the majority of the remaining audience isn't too bothered by queer content. Sometimes it's even preferred.
“We are almost invisible in gaming representations, although we represent a significant percentage of gamers,” said Ellis, president of GLAAD.
The report's survey data was collected in collaboration with Nielsen Games and includes responses from 1,452 active PC and console gamers in the United States, with an additional sample of LGBTQ gamers to ensure accuracy of questions specific to the community. The survey was distributed between June and August 2023.