The esports industry is rapidly expanding, and women are active participants in this industry. Despite the industry’s reputation for being “male-dominated,” enthusiastic female players are now diversifying the space. Female gamers are in greater numbers than ever before. Although competitive games, at times, can become a malign environment for women, this hasn’t stopped a new generation of female gamers from following their dreams and becoming major participants in the esports industry. Female streamers have found tremendous success on sites such as Twitch and YouTube, with women ranking among the top earners among pro gamers. According to the ‘Think with Google APAC – Play Like a Girl report published in 2021, women account for 18% of all gamers in India. Furthermore, the number of female gamers in India is rising faster than the number of male players. Over 43% of Indian smartphone gamers are women across all age groups, as per the report.
Women have become an essential component of the esports sphere, from tournaments to YouTube content creation, so here are the top women streamers who have carved out unique opportunities for themselves.
Shafgupta “Xyaa” Iqbal is a well-known E-sports personality in India, with over 268K subscribers on her official YouTube channel. She is also a part of Fanclash’s creator network, popularly known as FanClan. One of the few female gaming creators in India, she streams a variety of content on PC gaming, including UNO, Battlefield, Minecraft, GTA V, God of War, and The Walking Dead, and has an enormous fan base. She is also an experienced software engineer.
Saloni Panwar is a popular female streamer who made history by becoming the first Indian woman to compete in an International esports tournament in Thailand. She is a former CS GO player and has represented India at Central Asia qualifiers. She has 60.7k subscribers on her official YouTube channel called “Meow16K”. She has now shifted to Valorant, like many CS GO pro players.
Payal Dhare is a popular BGMI female content creator and streamer on YouTube. She started her YouTube channel in 2020 and now has over 2.68 million subscribers. Her YouTube channel, Payal Gaming, is one of the most popular in the gaming community. She has served as an inspiration to many people, especially young girls who want to be female gamers in the future. PayaI is currently India’s richest female streamer and a member of the S8UL family.
Deepanshi Rawat, popularly known as “Dobby,” is a BGMI player. She has a large fan following, with about 217K subscribers on her YouTube channel. Along with being a gamer and a streamer, Dobby is also a microbiologist. This year, she became the first female content creator for Godlike Esports.
Read more about Esports Trends of 2022: Mobile Esports Are on the Rise
Krutika Ojha is a well-known PUBG player. She began her gaming channel by playing PUBG, and she now plays a variety of games. She was previously a PUBG Mobile Esports player. Still, after PUBG Mobile India was banned in India, she used to play Valorant and other different games on her YouTube channel, and even after the launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India, she continues to do so.
Women, in any case, present limitless prospects for the esports industry. There are many spectacular esports programs for giving women the opportunity to thrive in this industry. One of those programs is the VCT Game Changers initiative. It was launched by Riot Games in 2021 to supplement the competitive environment by promoting new opportunities and exposure for women and other underrepresented genders within the Valorant Esports community. It is an essential step towards raising the percentage of women and other marginalized communities in the esports industry to make it a safe and inclusive space for people.
Women’s positions in gaming will only improve and develop as they are valued behind the scenes, in gameplay, and in marketing and esports are on their way to becoming more inclusive and entertaining.
