List of video games with LGBTQ characters
The following is a list of confirmed video games with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer characters, including any others falling under the LGBTQ umbrella term. The numbers in this list are possibly higher because some characters remained unconfirmed, unsourced, or controversial.
History
During the 1980s, characters who can be argued as identifying as LGBTQ+ were rarely shown in a realistic or non-stereotypical context and were often the objects of ridicule or jokes.In the 1990s, games continued to use stereotypical LGBT characters which did not reflect the diversity in LGBT communities. However, more efforts were made to make more diverse and less one-dimensional characters.
In 2018, GamesRadar's Sam Greer found 179 games with any LGBT representation. Of those 179 games, only 83 have queer characters who are playable characters. And of those, only eight feature a main character who is explicitly pre-written as queer as opposed to them being queer as a character creation option.
In 2024, GLAAD found that under 2% of digitally-distributed games for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles were noted by their respective companies as having LGBT content, and under 2.5% of Steam games were tagged as LGBT.