Solo? Tiny indie squad? Or mid/large studio?

​What kind of project are you currently working on?

If you HAVE done this: Vote "Guilty" and share your story! What did you hide? Did a player ever discover it?

​If you HAVE NEVER done this: Vote "Safe!" and share with us what you would hide if you had the chance. (A future player might see this and go look in your game lol)

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GamesBeat Summit 2026 is taking place May 18–19 in Los Angeles, and one session on the agenda stands out: "BOSS Mode: Women in Gaming, Entertainment, and Tech" — a breakfast panel on the morning of May 19 focused on senior women leaders across gaming, tech, and entertainment.

The panel: Driving Results: Leadership Strategies from Women in Games

The conversation is framed around a practical question:

>How do women in executive roles translate their positions into measurable outcomes?

Think retention, organizational velocity, execution under pressure — not career retrospectives, but the real strategic decisions that drive results.

The panelists are:

• Sophia Lisaius, VP of People & Culture at Xsolla
• Amanda Kruse, Blumhouse Games
• Zoe Bell, NYT Games
• Leanne Loombe, Annapurna Interactive

Moderated by Rachel Kaser of GamesBeat.

What makes the lineup interesting

The four panelists come from very different corners of the industry:

• Xsolla is a global game commerce and infrastructure company serving developers across 200+ countries.
• Blumhouse Games brings an IP and entertainment angle.
• NYT Games operates in a completely different business model from traditional game dev
• Annapurna Interactive is known for its distinctive creative-first slate. It's a broader cross-section than you'd typically see on a panel like this.

About GamesBeat Summit

For context, GamesBeat Summit is one of the video game industry's more senior annual gatherings — this year themed "Experience Meets Acceleration," with 600+ attendees, 70% of whom are at Director level or above, including C-suite executives, investors, publishers, and developers. The BOSS Mode breakfast is part of that program.

Hey everyone! I'm u/Ok-Passion9314, one of the founding mods of r/WomenInGames 👋

Really thrilled to see this community finally happen! Whether you work in the industry, are trying to break in, or just follow it closely — this is your space.

What We're About

A community for women in and around the games industry. That includes developers, designers, producers, artists, writers, QA testers, marketers, journalists, streamers, students, career-changers — you name it. If you're a woman navigating this industry in any capacity, you belong here.

What to Post

• Career advice, job hunting tips, or industry news
• Your work, projects, or things you're proud of
• Questions you've been too afraid to ask elsewhere
• Experiences (good, bad, or complicated) working in games
• Resources, events, or opportunities worth sharing

>No question is too junior, no win is too small to celebrate.

The Vibe

Honest, supportive, and real. We know this industry can be a lot — this is a place to talk about it openly, without judgment.

Getting Started

Say hi below! Tell us who you are, what you do (or want to do), and what brought you here. Even a single sentence works 🙂

Interested in moderating? DM me anytime.

So glad you're here for day one. Let's build something worth sticking around for. 💜

Hey everyone,

The 2026 WIG Diversity Awards finalists have been announced, with the ceremony set for 12th June 2026 at The Savoy Hotel in London. For those unfamiliar, the WIG (Women in Gaming) Diversity Awards, run by the International Gaming Awards, are one of the most respected DE&I recognitions in the iGaming industry and have been running for over a decade.

What does the award actually cover?

This year spans roughly 25 categories, organized around three broad themes:

• Individual achievement — Employee of the Year, Leader of the Year, Innovator, Inspiration, Star of the Future, Outstanding Mentor, and more. Most have separate Operator and Supplier tracks, so women across different sides of the industry are recognized on equal footing.
• Company culture — Best Diverse Place to Work, Great Place to Work, Corporate Wellness, Multi-Cultural Company of the Year. These look at what organizations are actually building internally, not just what they claim.
• Specific initiatives — Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Community Engagement, B2B Excellence. These reward concrete programs and real-world impact.

A few things worth flagging from this year's list

• Wazdan landed nominations in three separate categories — Diversity & Inclusion, Innovator of the Year, and Marketing Campaign of the Year. For a mid-sized developer going up against major operators, that kind of breadth is notable.
• ARRISE appears across almost every company-level category, suggesting a genuinely systematic approach to DE&I rather than a one-off campaign.
• Entain and Bally's dominate the individual achievement categories, with a striking number of their employees nominated — a sign that both companies have large pipelines of women worth spotlighting.
• Interblock shows up consistently across both company and individual categories, making them one of the most visible suppliers on this year's list.

Full finalists list: 2026 WIG Diversity Awards Finalists

What do you think of the WIG Diversity Awards? Do you see it as a meaningful benchmark for the industry, or more of a PR exercise? And are there any finalists on the list you're familiar with or rooting for? Would love to hear the community's take.