Female Gamers Are Taking Over: Who Are They?

Across the globe, nearly half of the gaming population are female. In 2020, there were over 2 billion tweets about gaming on Twitter. In comparison to 2019, female gamers on Twitter increased by 31%, showing that the female gaming community is growing across all platforms. The gaming industry is shrouded in the misconception that only men play and watch games. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Across all main gaming platforms – mobile, PC, and console – women make up 46% of gamers. For mobile gaming specifically, female gamers spend 25% longer than men playing games. Female gamers typically favor single-player mode games (86%), although Call of Duty and Fortnight have their fair share of female gamers – 36% and 34%.

Research has shown that female gamers play for various reasons: for relaxation, entertainment, to socialise and to enjoy competition.

Professional female gamers and esports

While female gamers are increasing across the gaming community generally, there is still a big difference in the number of professional female gamers and male gamers. Unfortunately, competitive gaming is a notoriously sexist environment, resulting in a negative and potentially unsafe space for many professional female gamers. 

However, thanks to the persistence and dedication of various initiatives that foster diversity and inclusion, the professional gaming environment is becoming a more welcoming place for female gamers. Currently, female gamers account for around 30% of esports fans and play 15 hours a week. There are a few prominent all-female esports teams competing in global events, and there are also female-only esports tournaments including the Gamer Girl Festival and W Series. 

As a result of female-only events and the #GamerGate incident where thousands of men within the gaming community began harassing, threatening and doxing female gamers, there has been a huge rise in the number of sponsorships and support initiatives. With Facebook and Twitch publicly celebrating Women’s History Month and Twitch’s Women’s Alliance, young female gamers can see other women represented within gaming.

The Top female gamers on Twitch

Kathleen “LoserFruit” Belsten

Kathleen is one of the top female gamers on the internet. Boasting a huge 2.6 million followers on Twitch, Kathleen is well-recognised within the Fortnite community and even has her own in-game skin. 

While Fortnite is her best and most played game, Kathleen streams a variety of content, including Pokemon Unite, Sea of Thieves and a combination of games with stream friends.

Rumay “itsHafu” Wang

Rumay, better known as Hafu, is arguably one of the most dedicated female gamers on Twitch and logs in anywhere between 60-80 hours per week. With her 1.3 million followers on Twitch, Hafu has conquered the League of Legends, World of Warcraft, and Hearthstone worlds. 

She played World of Warcraft professionally for a major league gaming team and won several top titles, making her one of the best female gamers to watch for tips and tricks. She has been open in the past about harassment from other teams during her WoW competing days.

Kristen “KittyPlays” Michaela

Kristen is a Twitch streamer from British Columbia. She has amassed her following of over 1 million with regular streams playing popular games like Fortnite and PUBG. She is upbeat and regularly interacts with her chat to keep a relaxed environment. 

Other than gaming, Kristen gives her audience insight into her life with vlogs where she discusses crypto, travel, cooking and supercars.

Katherine “Mystik” Gunn

Kat is a full-time Twitch streamer and was the highest paid female professional gamer in the world, earning herself the attention of the Guiness Book of World Records. Kat has competed playing Halo, Street Fighter and Dead or Alive. So it’s safe to say she’s one of the best female gamers on Twitch globally. 

Kat won the second season of WCG Ultimate Gamer, winning the $100,000 prize. With her competing days behind her, Kat regularly streams on Twitch with her sister and dad. She has recently been playing Pokemon Unite and Call of Duty: Warzone.

Dani “Ebonixsims”

Dani is one of the most popular female gamers in the Sims community. She garnered her community by creating custom content for other Sims fans to use in their own gameplay. Her custom content for the game provides black cultural hairstyles, fashion, jewellery, makeup and much more.

Dani is well recognised by the Sims developers and was recently asked by EA to help them, after over 20 years, improve the available skin tones in the game.

From her Sims content, Dani has branched out to become a variety streamer. She also plays Little Nightmares, Tell Me Why and It Takes Two. 

Top Female Gamers on YouTube

Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter

Rachel is an American YouTube streamer and female gamer. She is a content creator and co-owner of 100 Thieves. She is well known for playing games Among Us, Valorant, Minecraft and Fortnite. 

Before focusing on her YouTube channel, Rachel previously streamed on Twitch before she signed a 2-year $67 million contract with YouTube in January 2020. She has since built a huge following of 3.51 million subscribers on YouTube.

Imane “Pokimane” Anys

Poki is one of the most subscribed female gamers on YouTube with a following of 6.67 million. Poki is also a member of “Offline TV”, a collaborative YouTube channel made up of content creators.

Poki is a variety streamer and can often be found playing Minecraft, Among Us and Fortnite. She regularly posts videos playing games with friends and vlogs of her life. 

Lizzie “LDShadowLady” Dwyer

Lizzie is one of the best female gamers in Minecraft. With 6.28 million subscribers, Lizzie uploads Minecraft content once or twice a week. Her videos are funny and engaging, often showing off incredible Minecraft builds and gameplay. 

Lizzie creates different Minecraft series to showcase mod packs and custom content. She has also been seen playing the Sims 4 and Among Us.

Tiffany “iHasCupquake” Herrera

Tiffany has been one of YouTube’s best female gamers for quite a while. She began uploading videos back in 2010 and her videos have collected just under 3  billion views over the years. /she started her career with a series of League of Legends and World of Warcraft videos, but she became a YouTube superstar after switching to Minecraft.

She plays a variety of games including Miitopia, Among Us, Animal Crossing and Little Nightmares.

Jess “Aphmau” Bravura

Jess is known for a wide variety of content, but is mostly well-known in the gaming community for the Minecraft Content she creates. Jess has earned over 10 million subscribers thanks to her rigorous and consistent daily upload routine. 

Her popular videos have included a mix of Snipper Clips, Minecraft Roleplays, Minecraft Mini-Games, Human Fall Flat, and Animations.

FAQs

Who is the best female gamer?

The most followed female gamer on Twitch is Pokimane. 

The most popular female gamer on YouTube is SSSniperWolf.

Are there any female pro gamers?

There are lots of female professional gamers, and the number is steadily increasing thanks to female-only competitions and tournaments. 

Well-recognised professional female gamers include: Katherine “Mystik” Gunn, Seo “ToSsGirL” Ji Soo, Ricki Sophie Ortiz and Zainab “zAAz” Turkie.

What are girl gamers called?

Women within the gaming community are called gamers. 

The phrase “Gamer girl” or “gamer gurls” has been used disrespectfully in the past by male gamers. Often called “fake gamer girls”, these women have been accused of feigning interest in gaming to attract male gamers. 

While some female gamers have continued to use the name in order to reclaim power, a woman that plays video games is simply a gamer.

Who is the richest girl gamer?

Back in 2015, Katherine “Mystik” Gunn broke the Guiness Book of World Records for being the highest earning female gamer.

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