The 2024 Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Gaming Report on the state of LGBT or LGBTQ inclusion in video games was recently released by the President and CEO of GLAAD, Sarah Kate Ellis. The report reveals data on active LGBT gamers and the data on LGBT content from all the games available on consoles.
The report also touched upon surveys taken up by non-LGBT gamers on their consideration of choosing a game with an LGBT character. The main aim of the report was to push the message of LGBT gamers looking for more representation in gaming titles and the gaming industry to be more inclusive.
Games with LGBTQ Content Massively Low on All Platforms
The GLAAD report revealed the number of available games with LGBT content in comparison to all of the games available on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox consoles, and Steam. The report states that as of November 2023, the number of games tagged as having LGBT content includes 146 titles on Xbox, 90 games on PlayStation, 50 titles on Switch, and around 2,302 titles on Steam.
Games on Steam accounted for 2,302 titles with LGBT content but dropped to 1,506 titles when games with “adult-only sexual content” were filtered. The numbers felt even more meager when compared to all the titles available on each of these platforms.
The aforementioned titles accounted for a meager 2% of the titles available on Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation and 2.5% of the total titles on Steam. The report also compared the gaming titles to other media. Compared to other media, 3% of the reviewed ads, 28.5% of films by top distributors in 2022, 10.6% of primetime series included LGBT representation, and 596 LGBT characters were counted from primetime broadcast, primetime cable, and streaming series.
All of the statistics in the GLAAD report made it clear that the representation of LGBT is lagging far behind when compared to other mediums.
Clear Message Sent to the Gaming Industry by GLAAD Report
The GLAAD report acknowledged the fact that gaming is in itself a lot different when compared to other forms of media and that the representation does not apply to every type of game. The report still stressed that gaming has come a long way and “incorporates aspects of world-building, narrative and characterization” and that overall accounts to less than 2% of available games on consoles and PC represents LGBT content.
Durkee also mentioned having formed GLAAD Media Institute in 2018, a resource for media industries providing training, research, and consultation to help creators accurately represent LGBT people. Durkee highlighted that this was seen in games like The Last of Us Part 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Durkee also mentioned the title Tell Me Why for which GLAAD Media collaborated with Xbox studios and DON’T NOD Studios to produce “a playable transgender protagonist.” Durkee also mentioned having introduced Catalyst, a trans-woman character in Apex Legends.
Despite the effort by GLAAD Media and the interest shown by gaming studios, Durkee mentioned that the gaming industry could do a lot more by working with GLAAD Media Institute to help creators work towards better representation.
What would you like to see the gaming industry do to better represent the LGBT community? Let us know in the comments.
