“Girls have officially ruined Fortnite mobile,” a Twitter user named Michael recently declared. “Girls in my school killed Fortnite mobile for me smh,” wrote Twitter user Julian. Maybe these statements sound dramatic, but the culture around Fortnite goes beyond kills and wins. Fortnite has become a constant presence…
Last week, streamer Trainwreck got handed a five-day suspension by Twitch after a video went viral featuring an incendiary rant against women streamers, in which he called them things like “god damn sluts” and accused them of stealing views from those who he viewed as more deserving streamers. This poured gasoline on…
Blizzard is launching a “global diversity and inclusion initiative” aimed at raising the percentage of women and underrepresented minority groups in its workforce and improving the work environment for those groups, according to an internal company email recently received by Kotaku.
Hello! I’ve come here today to explain something that apparently still needs explaining: Women play video games.
Last week, footage of two women fighting in Overwatch went viral.“You’re one of the worst Mercys I’ve ever played with,” one told her team’s Mercy player. “Me? You’re the Mercy who’s rezzing one person and feel like they’re really good,” the second player, Bailee, shot back.
Last weekend’s Kiev Major crowned OG as a four-time Majors winner and celebrated the CIS region’s Dota 2 history. After the closing ceremony, however, the last thing viewers saw was an unexplained montage of women simply watching the matches. Since then, that footage has been critiqued by some of the community for…
GTA Online is mostly known for violence and open world shenanigans, so most people don’t realize just how much the fandom cares about clothes. For over a year now, some of the most hardcore players have been using online forums to gripe about the fashion options available for women characters in GTA Online.
According to Overwatch lore, D.va is a pro gamer who serves and inspires her country. In real life, D.va’s role is starting to mirror her in-game persona, as she becomes a symbol of hope for women in South Korea.
I’ve often told people that about half of gamers are women, citing an Entertainment Software Association report that puts the number at 41%. The invariable response: “But what games are they playing?”
All is not well in RimWorld, the popular space colonist simulator released in July. Yesterday, a Rock, Paper, Shotgun writer opened up RimWorld’s code and published some surprising revelations about how sexuality factors into its gameplay. RimWorld’s developer, in response, has gone on a tear, denying that the game…
The Korean dating simulator Mystic Messenger has become somewhat of a sensation among over a million women worldwide. It’s an “otome” game (literally, “maiden game”) that offers female players a harem of anime boys to court. These suitors are all charming in their own ways and all have their particular emotional …
The Super Smash Bros. community is having a conversation about sexual assault, whether they want to or not. Last week, that discussion came to a head when a female competitive Smash player published a guide attempting to educate the community around the famous Nintendo fighting game about consent. Now, the Smash …
Yesterday, critic Anita Sarkeesian published a video about female body diversity in games. “All the Slender Ladies” examines why games often showcase thin, young, humanoid women but rarely feature lady rock creatures or skeletal female priestesses. Male video game characters, she says, more often deviate from…
Toeing the line between camaraderie and fierce competition is near-impossible, especially in fighting games communities, but the Super Smash Sisters have mastered it, with bite.
Gary Gygax, biological determinist and creator of Dungeons & Dragons, once told a reporter for Icon magazine that “gaming in general is a male thing... Everybody who’s tried to design a game to interest a large female audience has failed. And I think that has to do with the different thinking processes of men and…
“I am officially retiring as a boobie streamer, or a titty streamer, if you will,” said Raihnbowkidz, a woman who broadcasts League of Legends on Twitch.
For the past few days, popular Twitch broadcasters and their audiences have been embroiled in a heated debate. The topic? Women streamers and whether they should—or shouldn't—be showing skin on stream.
News that Ubisoft scuttled plans for including female playable characters in the upcoming Assassin's Creed Unity was met by scorn and derision by many video game commentators last night. Now, Kotaku has an official statement from Ubisoft on the controversy.
The next big Assassin's Creed game and the first to appear exclusively on next-generation consoles won't let people play as female assassins in a new cooperative multiplayer mode, Ubisoft said this week at E3.
On Saturday, September 19 at the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Chicago, Illinois, 30-year-old Caitlin Oliver set the new world record for the arcade version of Namco's classic beat-em up, Splatterhouse. According to video game historian Patrick Scott Patterson, the last time a woman set an arcade game world record,…
