Gaming

8 Notable women in game development

Doing what you love isn’t gender-bound

Published

March 24, 2018

Leez

The gaming industry is perceptibly becoming more progressive, or at least, I’d like to think so. With people developing new games, playing them, and voicing out their insights, much of the industry is under more scrutiny than the community is used to. The gender split amongst gaming professionals, however, has long been an interesting talking point over the years.

In 2014, the International Game Developer’s Association released a report detailing the prevalence of women in the gaming industry. The presence of female developers has doubled since 2009 despite the persistence of male dominance in the industry.

The industry hit a striking spike in female audiences and consumers over time. With more female developers creating games and women themselves playing professionally, things had to change. Here are eight women who broke the mold:

Carol Shaw

Carol Shaw was a former video game designer and was one of the first in the industry. She was known for having designed Happy Trails for the Intellivision and River Raid for the Atari 800 and Atari 5200. She worked for Atari and wrote Video Checkers (1978), 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe (1978), and Super Breakout (1978, alongside Nick Turner).

Jane Ng

Jane Ng is a 3D environment artist who worked on well-received games like Firewatch, The Cave, Brütal Legend, Stacking, Spore, Costume Quest, and The Godfather. She started as an intern in Ronin Studios, but later moved on to Electronic Arts, then Double Fine Productions, and now Campo Santo.

Robin Hunicke

Robin Hunicke is a game designer and producer, as well as a professor of game design at UC Santa Cruz. She is also the co-founder of Funomena.

She began her career in Electronic Arts and worked on MySims and Boom Blox. Her advocacies include her support of independent game development and championing of women within the games industry.

Amy Hennig

Amy Hennig is a game director and scriptwriter who believes that the creative direction of a script holds more importance than the graphics of the game. She worked on the Legacy of Kain series, the Jak and Daxter series, and the Uncharted series. She has been called one of the most influential women in the video game industry by Edge magazine.

Corrinne Yu

Corinne Yu started her career with the King’s Quest series for the Apple II. She wrote the original engine for the Spec Ops series and was a founding member of Microsoft’s Direct 3D Advisory Board. She programmed lighting, facial animation, and developed new technology for the 2012 video game Halo 4.

Kim Swift

Kim Swift is a video game designer known for her work at Valve on games such as Portal (2007) and Left 4 Dead (2008). Much later, She led the team that developed Quantum Conundrum (2012). Kim Swift was featured by Fortune as one of “30 Under 30” influential figures in the video game industry.

Kellee Santiago

Kellee is a video game designer and producer. While studying at the USC Interactive Media Division of the University of Southern California, Santiago with her friend, Jenova Chen, and a team of students, they produced the game Cloud. After graduating, Santiago and Chen founded Thatgamecompany — the developers of Flow, Flower, and Journey.

Yoko Kanno

Yoko Kanno is a Japanese composer, arranger, and musician known for her work on the soundtracks on anime films, television series, live-action films, video games, and advertisements. She has written scores for Cowboy Bebop, Nobunaga’s Ambition, Uncharted Waters, and Ragnarok Online 2.

It’s inspiring to find more women working towards what they enjoy and love doing — especially in an industry that is undeniably dominated by men.

Although a certain collective of men in the industry sustain the misogynistic view that women aren’t fit for jobs like those mentioned above, it’s nice to see women gather around to support each other towards their dreams in life. Even if the game development industry doesn’t necessarily enable misogyny, the environment is still persistently male-dominated, making the push for gender equality a constant struggle.

Despite that, the community has grown and has shown support towards a more gender-diverse environment. After all, doing what you love and creating what you find fulfilling is not gender-bound.

Gaming

Call of Duty drops the PlayStation 4 starting with its next game

Is this the beginning of the end for the PlayStation 4?

Published

May 8, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

When can we declare that a console is officially dead? Is it as soon as the launch of the next generation? Is it when games no longer come out on the console? Recently, Call of Duty has confirmed that the next game will not be available anymore on the PlayStation 4, which presents an important question: Is the PlayStation 4 officially dead?

Call of Duty is one of the most persistent gaming franchises today. The last entry, Black Ops 7, is still available for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Both consoles were launched over twelve years ago. (If that doesn’t make you old, the current generation was launched almost six years ago.)

As such, the franchise is one of the last stalwarts keeping the past generation alive. This week, Call of Duty, via a post on X, confirmed that the next game will not arrive on the PlayStation 4. Presumably, this also means the Xbox One.

Not sure where this one started, but it’s not true. The next Call of Duty is not being developed for PS4.

— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) May 4, 2026

Currently, we don’t have details about the upcoming game yet. But a new entry is confirmed to arrive later this year.

With the departure of the Call of Duty franchise, it’s fair to ask what will become of the old generation moving forward. Over the years, developers have started shying away from the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Since the franchise still maintains a steady fan base today, a lot of PlayStation 4 users might be forced to make an upgrade to play the latest entry.

Gaming

Stranger Than Heaven is a Yakuza prequel with Snoop Dogg

The story spans different eras and regions across half a century in Japan.

Published

May 7, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

In my review of Yakuza Kiwami 3, I groaned about how every new entry in the Yakuza and Like a Dragon franchise — original and remake — looked identical with each other. I ended that playthrough hoping desperately for a new era. Thankfully, those hopes did not fall on deaf ears. In its first trailer, the upcoming Stranger Than Heaven showed off an interesting reimagining of the Yakuza universe. Oh, and Snoop Dogg is in it.

First announced back in late 2024 as Project Century, Stranger Than Heaven has now confirmed itself as a prequel to the prequel to the Yakuza games. It didn’t start that way, though. When it was announced, there was hope that the then-untitled game featured a new story disconnected from Yakuza. It looks like the final game is making the best of both worlds.

Stranger Than Heaven chronicles the rise of the infamous Tojo Clan. Unless this is decidedly different from the Tojo Clan in the Yakuza series, this is the clearest sign that this is, in fact, a prequel.

Makoto Daito, a Japanese boy living in Chicago, escapes America to forge a new life in Japan. Along the way, he meets Orpheus, a smuggler played by Snoop Dogg, who drags Makoto into the criminal underworld. Eventually, Makoto decides to do things his own way by creating a new crime family called the Tojo Clan.

Unlike other games in the series, Stranger Than Heaven spans different eras and regions in Japan, starting with Fukuoka in 1915 and ending with Kamurocho in 1965. It will also have different fighting mechanics by mapping the left and right bumpers/triggers to left and right attacks.

Off the bat, Stranger Than Heaven looks like a new era for the series. It launches winter this year for all major platforms.

Gaming

Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches October 6

Pre-orders now live

Published

May 4, 2026

Rodneil Quiteles

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is set to launch on October 6, 2026, bringing a new high-speed twist to the Star Wars universe. The game is published by Secret Mode and developed by Fuse Games. It arrives on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC with support for up to 12 players.

Pre-orders are now open across Standard, Deluxe, and Collector’s Editions. Pricing starts at $59.99 for the Standard Edition, with both digital and physical versions available depending on platform.

A different kind of Star Wars story

Set in the lawless Outer Rim, the game introduces the Galactic League—an unsanctioned racing circuit where skill matters more than destiny. You play as a mysterious pilot named Shade, navigating a single-player campaign built on rivalries, alliances, and unfinished business.

There’s no Force or prophecy here. Instead, the focus is on build strategy and racing mastery. Players can customize three types of repulsorcraft and even take on classic podracers, blending familiar Star Wars elements with a more competitive, arcade-style edge.

Multiplayer supports online races where players can test their builds and driving skills against others.

Pre-order bonuses and editions

All pre-orders include a bonus livery usable across vehicles, with platform-specific colors, plus a Player Banner background for multiplayer.

The Deluxe Edition adds three extra vehicles, exclusive Arcade events, a livery pack, and cosmetic upgrades like new player banners and insignias. It also includes a digital art book featuring early designs of characters, locations, and vehicles.

Collector’s Edition for dedicated pilots

For collectors, the physical Collector’s Edition bundles a model of the Kor Sarun: Darc X landspeeder, themed patches, a printed art book, and a steel case housed in premium packaging. It also includes all Deluxe Edition digital content.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches on October 6, 2026, for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with pre-orders now available.