It won’t be long until the first real successful eSports team consisting of both men and women emerges, says a female pro gamer.
Angel “Mouse” Malihiolzakerni (pictured) from Sweden’s Team Property, told us at Dreamhack London last weekend that female eSports pros are only getting better.
There are several female-only tournaments now, as well as female teams such as CLG Red, LGB, Epsilon eSports and others, and this will pave the way to more mixed teams, says Mouse.
She said: “I think it’s actually been growing a lot, because this year ESWC in France is going to have a female-only tournament in League of Legends. And that has never come to Europe before – not as a big tournament anyway.
“I also think that … a lot of people don’t like it when it’s female-only.
“So we’re really looking forward to the first top mixed team. I think it will be soon because the girls are getting better – and I think it’s about time soon.”
Nina “Foxglove” Flatnes added: “As soon as they host more tournaments where we’re able to play against the guys, I think we’re going to improve a lot. Because right now we’re just playing competitive against the female scene and we don’t really get that challenge – you need to play against better players to get better yourself.
“I think as soon as it’s more normal to play against them, then we can practice against them and we’ll also end up on that level. But right now it’s a bit hard because we only practice against each other and not the good male teams.
“Now they just started with the mixed tournaments online – and we are getting beaten. But that’s normal because it’s so new for us, we never played them before. When they play against each other they know exactly how they play and it’s very different. Females and males – they don’t play the same. We’re really defensive and they’re really aggressive.
“Once we play them more, we can take more from their game style and adapt more. It’s going to be rough at the start, I think.”
Read our full interview with Team Property on the divide between men and women’s eSports here
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
