The gaming audience is queerer than ever
Mainstream games are embracing openly queer characters 鈥� and so are many of their players and fans.
The Last of Us, the prestige HBO adaptation of the critically lauded game, has been聽聽for delivering a strong narrative featuring prominent LGBTQIA+ cast and characters.
滨苍听, the seventh episode, the show transported us to the time the younger protagonist, Ellie, spent with her childhood friend and love interest, Riley. We also saw in the third episode, Long, Long Time, how Bill and his longtime partner Frank navigated their final moments together.
Since The Last of Us aired, it saw聽聽within 12 days of its opening. The data suggests that there is a very large TV audience with a healthy appetite for authentic and purposeful LGBTQIA+ representation.
The interesting thing is that much of this queer representation in The Last of Us TV adaptation is lifted directly from the plot of the video game, asking whether there is a similar appetite for LGBTQIA+ representation and stories in the gaming world.
This in turn raises the question: is the gaming audience becoming more inclusive?
The growing market for queer games
聽along with its聽聽raised more than US$216,000 for 431 queer creators. Indeed, there is a steadily growing market for queer games.
Queer games makers are resisting against public malice against the community. In February 2023, the聽聽bundle, which started in opposition to JK Rowling鈥檚 horrifying anti-transgender tirade, raised US$215,893 for 56 queer creators.
In 2022, we found that聽.
This analysis was on聽, a platform where independent creators can distribute or sell their games. In March 2022, it hosted 2,499 LGBT and LGBTQIA tagged queer games. One year later, that number has risen to more than 3,376, a 35% increase. However, the ratio of free games remains.
Pride at Play
To explore more about queer games 鈥� games made by queer makers for queer folks 鈥� we curated an exhibition called聽.
Pride at Play鈥檚 selection was through an open submission whereby anyone in the world can submit their queer games. We focused on games made in Oceania and the Asia-Pacific region, reflecting the ongoing cultural and legal challenges LGBTQIA+ folks are facing in these regions.
As part of the curatorial process, we interviewed all exhibiting developers. Our interviews were akin to casual conversations, and we talked to 20 different queer designers from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia and more.
We asked each person about their background, motivations, queer experiences, their communities, target audiences, and what it means for them to play with pride.
Queerer than ever
Our Mundane Supernatural Life. Image credit: Storybrewers Roleplaying
Hayley Gordon and Vee Hendro, who founded the game studio聽聽in Gadigal (Sydney) were among the folks we interviewed. We asked who their target audience were, and they were convinced they have connected with them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 queerer than ever. Our market, indie roleplaying games, just gets queerer every year,鈥� they observed.
Younger people in roleplaying are more open about their queerness as well. Games that are going into the indie space specifically are more open, and I wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if there鈥檚 reflections in the mainstream too.
Ferguson and Ken sharing a milkshake in Small Town Emo. Image credit: Fnife Games
鈥淚 feel like I鈥檓 doing some kind of retroactive rewriting of history,鈥� said Thomas Barrer at the 艑tautahi (Christchurch) studio聽, who makes聽, 鈥渂y making the kind of game I would have liked to see as a kid and have it work on a Game Boy鈥�.
鈥淩ight now I have a vision of the world being more individual,鈥� said Ignacio Bustos, lead developer at the Argentinian studio聽聽that created the multi-awardwinning game聽.
In Argentina we have a lot of young people. We鈥檝e put value in the industry as a studio, with all those ideas of diversity and inclusion. And there are things we want to appreciate and make a place for.
Making a Valentine鈥檚 Day chocolate in Mima and Nina鈥檚 Choclate Workshop. Image credit: npckc
鈥淚f itch.io didn鈥檛 exist, I wouldn鈥檛 even be in gamedev at all. itch.io is where I first found small games at a scale that I could make myself,鈥� responded聽, a Japan-based solo game designer who created聽.
"It鈥檚 provided a space for my weird free games. It鈥檚 given me the confidence to release paid games after people donated for my free ones. It鈥檚 helped me meet other small game devs who鈥檝e become friends who support me and whom I support as we all make our own things."
Queer games have the potential to touch on everyday endearing moments of who we are as humans.
This article was first published in The Conversation as聽聽Dr Xavier Ho is a Junior Visiting Fellow at the聽the inaugural聽Hunt-Simes Institute in Sexuality Studies聽in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. He is also a lecturer at Monash University, where he researches video games and creative design.听
Hero image: Last Of Us character Ellie with her love interest and friend, Riley. Image supplied by developer, .听