Womenize! to return after successful comeback

After a five-year break, Womenize! celebrated a successful comeback as a face-to-face event. 150 attendees came to Berlin, 1500 watched the stream on Twitch.

Even if Womenize! has not yet reached its pre-pandemic size, the fact that 150 people showed up at the Institut Français in Berlin in such a short time shows the need for an event and networking platform for underrepresented people in the German games industry. Especially as over 1500 people watched the talks on Twitch. The stream was set up at short notice because many people had contacted the organisers who could not make it to Berlin in person, but would have loved to be at Womenize!

For the organisers, the event and the response were more than enough to announce a sequel. "Womenize! was an impressive event full of inspiring stories and valuable encounters. The participation and support of the community showed how important and effective our efforts for more equality and diversity in the games industry are. We thank everyone who took part and look forward to the next event - next year at the latest,” said Madeleine Egger, Head of Womenize!.

During the day, numerous women from the games industry took to the stage and often spoke about their personal experiences. The opening keynote, entitled ‘Finding passion in gaming - and sustain it’, was given by Maxi Graeff, Integrated Marketing Lead Xbox DACH at Microsoft. In the subsequent panel discussion “Navigating the path to founding your own studio”, the speakers Valentina Birke (WINGS), Ina Goering (game), Melanie Fussenegger (Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur), Sofia Saa (Institut Français), Serenad Yilmaz (Food for thought) agreed that the games industry is an open, collaborative industry where you can definitely get help and support.

Other speakers of the day were Just Becci aka Rebecca Raschun with her very personal and emotional presentation “An unexpected journey. Discovering my voice in the gaming world", Sarah Gloeckler, Simge Erdogan and Viktoria Glaeser from Riot Games, Frederico Machado de Campos and Richarrie Mosca Klumpp from Yager, Fernanda Lange Boettcher (Brandenburg Economic Development Corporation), Katja Bäuerle (Erich Pommer Institute), Mafalda Duarte (Telescope Gaming Studio), Julianne Becker (Coconat), Gabrielė Jukonytė (InnoGames), sound designer Almut Schwacke, criminologist Kristina Straßburger, Sophie Vo (Rise and Play) and Jenni Wergin (Headup).

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