Women, he says, tend to enjoy puzzle games, while male gamers "want to be on top, they want to accomplish something and be the champion." It's difficult, he insists, to create a game that appeals to both males and females on an equal level.

Wright expanded on this, using The Sims as an example. "We had two big spikes in our demographic: 14-year-old girls and 25-year-old guys." He gave an analogy using the original Star Trek series. During the first season, he said, every fourth episode or so would be dedicated to building relationships between the crew members, while all of the others focused on cool space battles. Ratings heavily swayed toward either a mostly-female or a mostly-male audience, respectively, depending on the type of show, which was often obvious in the opening minutes of the program. In the second season, he says, the show's writers managed to find an equal balance in their storytelling, and the ratings demographic became more balanced for the rest of the series' run.

"My biggest failure was Quake 3," Willits said. "The game offered perfect multiplayer for hardcore players. In fact, they're still playing it. But the more casual gamers, and other people who actually have money, found playing next to impossible."