Racing game developer SimBin has announced Women and Wheels, the first women-only esports racing competition, during the European Women in Games Conference in London, launching this autumn and aiming to "provide a supportive, female-friendly environment that encourages more women to play asports while drawing attention to the often hidden role of women in racing and automotive history." A percentager of the revenue will even be donated to female-focused charities.
SimBin Studio Head Allan Speed said: "We're thrilled to announce Women and Wheels. As a developer, we're acutely aware of the low female participation in esports. Around 7% of our race competitors are female. Unbelievably, that's probably over average. We want to see more women enjoying the thrills and spills of the virtual track, and Esports in general. At SimBin we've achieved 50/50 gender balance in our studio workforce, so we thought we'd try to encourage more women to compete in our competitions too. We spoke to Marie-Claire Isaaman (CEO, Women in Games) and Dr. Jo Twist (CEO, Ukie), who both thought it was a great idea. Then we got positive feedback from some well-known car manufacturers and a host of great sponsors and advocates got on board. Everyone could see that Women and Wheels is all about doing good while feeling good. It's got high-octane racing fun, it's building a supportive environment for women to develop their racing skills and confidence, and it's donating to charity too. It's a real game changer."
The press release talked about the gender balance in esports, as around 50% of gamers are female but the number drops to 15% for esports viewers and as low as 5% for players, with an earnings gap between men and women existing as well.
"Women and Wheels is a fantastic initiative", said Marie-Claire Isaaman, CEO of advocacy group Women in Games. "It's a shame we need women-only teams, leagues and competitions in Esports but until the sector fully matures, becomes more gender balanced and takes steps to eradicate online bullying and misogyny, they represent a great way to get more women involved by building communities, confidence and skills. It's not true that women aren't competitive, or that they don't like cars. The CEO of General Motors is currently a women, and the founder of Autoweek, Denise McCluggage, used to race Ferraris! Esports has great potential to level the playing field for women in competitive sport, and I think Women in Wheels is progressive step towards achieving that."
The competition will be available on Steam and there will also be prizes for winners, including a Racing Simulator Chair in the value of around 3,000 euros, two Fanatec Racing Wheel and Ped sets, a life coaching program courtesy of Epiphany Junkie, and more.
If you're interested in the competition, you can sign up here. Is this initiative a good way to get women involved and enthused about esports?