When it comes to who gamers like playing as, gender (both of the audience and the main characters) can play a role, fresh YouGov data shows.

Among gamers in the US, women are more likely to say they prefer playing as female main characters than men are to say they prefer playing as male leads. Around a third of female gamers (32%) say they strongly prefer female leads, while only about 23% of men say the same for male leads. The majority of men say they either have no preference at all or that they prefer playing as female characters.

Overall, 11% of male gamers indicate they prefer playing as female characters compared to just 4% of women who say the same for male characters.

That difference becomes sharper among regular gamers – i.e., those who play for at least one hour each week. Among this group, female players are even more likely to express a strong preference for female protagonists (38% versus 32% among all female gamers). Meanwhile, regular male gamers become less rigid, leaning even more towards no preference or showing a mild preference for female leads.

Does having a female lead affect interest in video games?

While 38% of male gamers indicate a strong or slight preference for playing as male characters, this doesn’t mean that this audience would be automatically put off by a female lead. In fact, male gamers are twice as likely to say a female protagonist would make them more interested than less (23% vs 11%). Three-fifths of them say it would make no difference (62%) to their interest level.

As for interest levels among female gamers, nearly half (45%) say a female lead makes them more interested in a game, with over one in five saying it makes them much more interested (22%). On the whole, having a female lead has the potential to broaden a game’s appeal.

Why do gamers enjoy playing as female characters?

When players who prefer female protagonists are asked why, the most common reason — especially among women — is a matter of personal identification. Roughly two-thirds of female gamers who say they would be more interested in female-fronted games say they simply relate more to female characters – around a fifth of men who are more interested in female-led games also state this as a factor (19%). The second most common factor among female gamers is the belief that games with females in the lead tend to have unique storytelling perspectives – a sentiment shared by an equally large share of their male counterparts (37% each).

Men who prefer female leads tend to cite other motivations more commonly. For most of them it is just a matter of experiencing something different (42% vs 24% of female gamers). For two-fifths of men, the higher interest in playing as female leads stems from a perceived need to encourage developers to make more games with female leads (42% vs 32%). They are also more likely to feel that games with female protagonists tend to have better character design or depth (38% vs 28%).

How this plays out in actual game choices?

To find out, we asked gamers whether they had played one or more of a handful of popular, story-driven AAA titles from the recent years – featuring either a male or female protagonist, or in the case of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla a choice between the genders. The data wasn’t conclusive in way or another.

The Last of Us Part II, featuring two female main characters, was the only title with an even split in terms of share of men and women gamers who had played the title. All other titles were played by a significantly higher proportion of male gamers than female ones.

Interestingly, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which allows players to choose between a male or female protagonist, had the lowest gap out of the other titles. That suggests that offering character choice could be one of the most effective ways to bridge engagement between men and women gamers.

But having a female protagonist isn’t a guaranteed path to attracting more women. For example, Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018), despite its iconic female lead, was played by nearly twice the share of men as women. In fact, the Lana Croft starring franchise’s most recent title had the biggest differential between men and women gamers – with a markedly bigger male:female player ratio than the likes of God of War Ragnarök and Marvel’s Spider-Man.

Methodology: YouGov polled 1500 US adults online on October 17, 2025. The overall sample of gamers after filtering out those who say they don’t play video games on console/PC was 726. The survey was carried out through YouGov Surveys: Self-serve. Data is weighted by age, gender, race, political affiliation, education level and region. The margin of error is ±3% for the overall sample.

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