Video game designers increasingly focus on girls

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Tony Key, senior vice president of marketing for video game maker Ubisoft, points to the Title IX anti-discrimination law when talking about new opportunities in gaming.Before the 1972 passage of the measure, which eliminated sex discrimination in schools, only 1 out of 27 girls played high school sports. Thirty-six years later, that figure is 1 out of every 2 girls.Key said the video game industry is realizing that, in the same way the girls defied the prevailing wisdom and proved enthusiastic athletes, they're also aspiring gamers."We found through research that girls are gamers; they just aren't traditional gamers," Key said. "Girls are clearly interested in playing video games. They just don't want to play the same games their brothers play."With the recent popularity of the Nintendo Wii console and DS handheld system, which have topped the sales charts because of their creative and accessible game play, publishers are turning their attention to girls in a big way. This holiday season will feature lineups flush with games that are specifically designed for girls or to appeal to both genders.Some of the biggest include THQ's All Star Cheer Squad, Electronic Arts' Littlest Pet Shop, Disney Interactive's High School Musical 3 and Ubisoft's Ener-G Dance Squad and Party Babyz.In the past, most games were designed for males, and they occasionally appealed to girls. More recently, developers have reached out to older female gamers through PC titles and casual gaming sites. But publishers have been slow to create a library of console and portable game titles that appeal to younger female gamers, instead churning out traditional games that focus on shooting, action, sports or racing."There's definitely been a psychological shift. There was a percentage of females that thought this is a niche thing that's for geeky guys, but we've had a couple years or so of breaking through that," said Anita Frazier, an analyst with the NPD Group, which tracks video game sales. "There's not some fundamental reason why women or girls don't like to game. It's about, is there content that is interesting and engaging for them?"Electronic Arts established a casual games label last year to tap into such overlooked markets. The label released rhythm game Boogie last year and followed up this fall with Boogie SuperStar, aimed at 'tween girls, and the Littlest Pet Shop, made for girls ages 6 to 9.Chip Lange, general manager of EA's Casual Label, said the company saw the opportunity to tap an underserved audience and realized it needed to reorganize its operation."I was surprised by how wired we were to a particular target audience of 18-34-year-old guys. It was a challenge to change the rule book of designing games for fraternity brothers," said Lange. "But now, we have the ability to go deep and focus on new audiences and let others focus on the traditional business."The Walt Disney Co. saw the market shifting toward girl gamers four years ago and built up its software publishing company, Disney Interactive Studios, to create and publish more games, not just license its content to developers. The company has been at the forefront with its Hannah Montana and High School Musical franchises, which together have sold almost 9 million units.Craig Relyea, senior vice president of global marketing for Disney Interactive, said girls tend to like more social and collaborative games, with less competition and more opportunities for personalization and nurturing. The traditional video game marketing message also has been tweaked for girls to emphasize the fun of playing in groups."It's different than core products for boys, where you typically show off the graphics and other aspects," Relyea said. "In (games that appeal to girls) the message is about the fun of it, the overall social experience."He said titles like Kim Possible, Hannah Montana and High School Musical have also helped bring girl titles to consoles, which traditionally have been a male stronghold. The challenge for many publishers is graduating young girls and 'tween girl gamers to older games. Following a trend seen in the toy industry, there is a drop in game-playing by girls heading to middle school and high school.SIDEBARGames for girls, with release date-- Littlest Pet Shop (EA): Oct. 14-- Ener-G Dance Squad (Ubisoft): Oct. 21 -- All Star Cheer Squad (THQ): Oct. 27 -- High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance (Disney Interactive): Oct. 28 (E-mail Ryan Kim at rkim(at)sfchronicle.com)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)