Does crowdfunding democratise funding access for female entrepreneurs in the video game industry?

Focusing on reward-based crowdfunding, this study examines whether gaming entrepreneurs’ gender influences their crowdfunding success and illuminates the gatekeeping role of a crowdfunding platform in relation to gender equality in crowdfunding for video games. By analysing the data collected from a US reward-based crowdfunding platform, this study shows that female gaming entrepreneurs are more likely to reach funding goals than their male counterparts after controlling for quality cues. However, the positive effect of female gender on crowdfunding success disappears when the crowdfunding platform’s recommendation is taken into account. This study also reveals whether the gender of gaming entrepreneurs moderates the relationship between funding goals and crowdfunding success, and whether there is a difference in the amount of funding received based on gender.