A New Partnership Aims to Bridge Gaming's Mobile Gender Gap

The statistics tell a stark story about gaming's most glaring disconnect. Women represent nearly half of all video game players, yet when the Women's Game Fest received over 200 submissions last year, only 10 percent were designed for mobile devices, the very platform where female gamers are most active.

This September, as the Women's Game Fest launches its two-month celebration of games made by and for women, organizers are addressing that gap through a new partnership with Dorian, a platform that specializes in interactive fiction and visual novels.

The collaboration, dubbed the "WGF x Dorian Boost Track," offers something concrete that many initiatives in this space often lack: a direct pathway for creators to reach their intended audience, complete with $500 grants, personalized coaching, and promotional support.

"Women are over half of mobile gamers, and on Dorian they're close to 90 percent of our audience," Julia Palatovska, Dorian's chief executive, told PocketGamer.biz. "We reached out to the WGF organizers to help talented participants meet fans where they play."

The timing feels deliberate. While the gaming industry has spent years discussing diversity and inclusion, actionable programs that address specific barriers remain relatively rare. The Women's Game Fest, hosted by Studio Everium and running through October 31st, represents one of the few sustained efforts to showcase work by female creators.

Dorian's platform offers a glimpse into what the industry might look like with different gatekeepers. The company hosts over 3,500 interactive games created by an almost entirely female user base, half of whom identify as people of color. By eliminating coding requirements through its no-code engine, Dorian has enabled its top creators to earn upwards of $15,000 annually—transforming what was once a hobby into a viable income.

The partnership also introduces support for Ren'Py, a popular visual novel engine, allowing games built with it to run directly on Dorian's mobile platform. For creators already working in visual novels and dating simulations, genres that proved popular in last year's fest submissions, this represents a significant reduction in technical barriers.

Meeting Players Where They Are

The broader context makes the initiative particularly relevant. According to 2023 data from Newzoo, women make up 46 percent of all gamers, yet the International Game Developers Association found they represent only 32 percent of developers. That gap becomes even more pronounced in mobile gaming, where female players dominate but female-created content remains scarce.

"This isn't just about talking about change; it's about actively creating it," a Women's Game Fest spokesperson said, highlighting the partnership's focus on tangible outcomes rather than symbolic gestures.

The program is accepting submissions now, with winners to be announced in November. Whether it can meaningfully address the mobile gaming gender gap remains to be seen, but the initiative represents something increasingly valuable in an industry often criticized for hollow commitments: a specific, measurable attempt to connect creators with audiences.

For an industry that has long struggled to translate good intentions into structural change, the partnership offers a test case for what targeted, practical interventions might accomplish. The question isn't whether gaming needs more diversity, the data makes that clear, but whether initiatives like this can create sustainable pathways for underrepresented creators to reach the players already waiting for their work.