Ethical issues in video game development have received extensive attention from the general public and researchers. Yet, the voices of those most directly involved in creating games i.e., the game designers and developers, remain less researched. Practitioners’ perspectives are critical, as their daily decisions shape whether games embody ethical values or perpetuate ethical issues. To address this gap, we examine how practitioners in the game industry perceive ethical issues, the barriers they face in addressing them, and the strategies they envision for fostering more ethically grounded development practices. For this purpose, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 software practitioners working in thirteen different countries in the video game industry. The collected data was analyzed using thematic analysis with an inductive coding approach.

Our results identify a range of ethical issues in game development, highlighting mis/underrepresentation of gender, culture, and LGBTQ+ identities as the most pressing. Commercial pressures, team homogeneity, process limitations, and inadequate reporting mechanisms were mentioned as major barriers to incorporating ethics into game development. Our findings highlight the urgency of addressing ethical issues in game development through systemic cultural change, including clear guidelines, inclusive teams, and ethics-focused training.