Out Making Games has commissioned a major new report from the Video Games Industry Memo examining the rising censorship of LGBTQ+ content in video games around the world.
Titled Trapped in the Network, the report explores how LGBTQ+ representation in games is increasingly coming under pressure from governments, platforms, businesses and organised groups seeking to limit visibility and expression.
When Out Making Games was founded, it was because LGBTQ+ people working across the UK and European games industry needed a community of their own. That need remains. While the games industry has made progress in LGBTQ+ representation, recent years have also seen growing efforts to restrict and censor queer voices and stories.
The organisation explains the reason for commissioning the report:
“Games are one of the few cultural forms with the reach to do something about that. Every time a queer character appears in a game played in a country where being LGBTQ+ is criminalised, every time a player can express their identity through character creation, every time a developer keeps a Pride flag in the world rather than quietly removing it, that is a thread connecting our dispersed community. Those threads matter because they show people, queer and otherwise, that being LGBTQ+ is normal and deserves respect and equal treatment. Games can do this in places where books and films cannot. That is why their censorship is being pursued so hard, and why it must be resisted.
“For LGBTQ+ people with safety and protection, and our allies, this report is a call to do much more for our siblings in countries where being LGBTQ+ is criminalised. That means demanding transparency from the companies and platforms we work with, holding the line on the protections we already have, and refusing to let economic pressure quietly erase what we have built.”
Trapped in the Network examines:
- The history of digital censorship and how modern approaches increasingly encourage self-censorship through fear, friction and narrative control.
- Why LGBTQ+ communities are frequently targeted by governments and institutions seeking to marginalise minority groups.
- How video games became a focus for censorship efforts, particularly following the success of titles such as The Last of Us and Baldur’s Gate 3, which challenged traditional assumptions about gaming audiences.
- The practical mechanisms used to censor LGBTQ+ content, including government regulation, platform policies, business self-censorship and targeted harassment campaigns.
- How censorship in one region can have a global impact due to the interconnected nature of the games industry.
- Actions the industry can take to counter censorship, strengthen protections for creators and support LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.
Out Making Games hopes the report will help industry leaders, developers and players better understand the challenges facing LGBTQ+ representation in games and provide the confidence needed to take meaningful action.
The organisation is calling on those with safety, protections and influence to do more to support LGBTQ+ communities in regions where rights remain under threat. This includes demanding greater transparency from companies and platforms, defending existing protections and resisting economic pressures that can lead to the quiet removal of LGBTQ+ representation.
You can download the full report HERE
