A gender pay gap exists in the video game industry which affects the largest developers of AAA games. Even as game companies increasingly recognize the influence of women in gaming, and as developers attempt to tackle issues like gender employment bias and representation, a gender pay gap remains. As one of the biggest developers in the industry, Rockstar Games is the perfect litmus test for the attempts to reduce gender pay gaps in the industry overall.A gender pay gap still exists with a developer like Rockstar Games because many of its more senior and better-paid positions are held by men. Hiring female employees to the entry-level roles in the studio may help in bolstering employment equality numbers, but it can take years for these new hires to rise through the ranks and meaningfully close the gender pay gap in the studio.Practices are improving in this area, however, along with the culture surrounding it, and developers want to be seen actively striving for improved gender pay gap and employment figures. Rockstar Games had faced controversy surrounding its gender pay gap in the past. But now the developer behind some of gaming's biggest franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption has released an official gender pay gap report for the company in 2021. The snapshot shows how the developer has improved in this area and how it plans to improve further moving forward.
The report includes sponsorships and programs Rockstar has in place to make it more open to equal employment opportunities, along with hard data on the company’s equitable gender balance. While the data still shows a substantial divide in payment by gender, the report does explain that it takes a few years for all the work done on closing this gap to take a visible effect. The report was also made public as an acknowledgment by Rockstar that it should be doing better while reaffirming its continued commitment to closing this gap.
Although the report does focus on male/female demographics within the studio-based mainly on payment equality, there are other policy improvements listed to help with overall diversity at Rockstar Games. A couple of these policies include HR system options expanding beyond binary male/female gender identities and mandatory unconscious bias training for all employees. Diversity is another important issue more game developers have been speaking up for.
This report was signed off on by the Vice President of Rockstar Games Jennifer Kolbe. This Rockstar Games mainstay has replaced Rockstar Games founder Dan Houser in the VP role after he left the company in 2020.