FEATURE
New startup tackles stereotypes
Worldwide Biggies spans gender gap
If you still picture the typical video game player as a young man lurking in a dank basement, think again. According to the International Game Developers Association, nearly 40% of the game-playing public is female. Multi-million-dollar hits like The Sims, World of Warcraft and Diner Dash have cashed in by appealing to gamers of both genders. Development companies, however, are lagging well behind the trend: just 12% of games industry employees are female.
One new player is working to break that paradigm. Worldwide Biggies, a New York-based startup helmed by former Viacom executive Albie Hecht, boasts a 60:40 male-to-female split, and its first release credits several women in top positions, including its producer, its quality control lead, and its head of marketing. In an industry where females are a rare sight -- and an even rarer one in management positions -- Worldwide Biggies is breaking new ground.
"We weren't specifically looking for gender -- we just came across great people," says Kari Kim, Biggies' vice-president of production, and one of the year-old company's founders. Kim's portfolio includes work on Saturday Night Live, and an Oscar nomination for her co-production credit on War/Dance, a documentary about three Ugandan children who find hope through music.
Worldwide Biggies' first release is Princess Bride Game, a groundbreaking, genre-hopping adventure based on the cult comedy classic movie. It's easy to see how the movie's characters fit Worldwide Biggies' corporate ethos, too: as hero Westley and heroine Buttercup battle the infamous Rodents of Unusual Size, Buttercup's ready with a big stick. Although she doesn't actually use it in the movie, rest assured she does in the game, and she has other abilities that give her advantages over Westley.
Kim is keen to explain just how her team's even gender distribution helped their design choices. "Although Princess Bride was already there, we had to craft it in a way that would still make it feel new," she told us -- and what better way to capture new ideas than to have a team that's so untypical? Worldwide Biggies is hoping Princess Bride Game, like the movie, will appeal to the whole family, and to women in particular.
That's an ethos that's key to the company's future, too. "Family is the guiding principle that ties it all together, but it's generally Mom that's making the purchasing decision," says Blaine Graboyes, Worldwide Biggies' media architect. Kim chimes in, "We're going to be focused on women, but coming out with children's games too, and casual games that are traditionally for kids."
So what's their secret? Kim puts the credit firmly in the corporate culture department. "We bring the passion and openness here that is possibly missing in other companies. We have a community -- we call it a family -- here," she says -- and if you're curious to see the fruits of her team's labor, you can try the game for free right here.
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Posted: 2 Jul 2008