Laia Bee curated the #1ReasonToBe panel at GDC 2021.
Laia Bee curated the #1ReasonToBe panel at GDC 2021.
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#1ReasonToBe: Tales of women game developers in emerging regions

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 33 min

The #1ReasonToBe panel has had a strong legacy at the Game Developers Conference. This year, it featured seven women from different parts of the world. They talked about why they’re game developers and how that came to pass at the recent online-only GDC.

In 2013, the #1ReasonToBe session was initiated by the longtime game developer Brenda Romero and game developer and former columnist Leigh Alexander to give visibility to the work and ambitions of women in the industry.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.