The cozy gaming trend is empowering women to dominate space in a male-centred industry
To imagine a cozy gaming setup, you first have to envision a bright setting, with soft lines and cottage core interiors. Then, add a plush, ergonomic office chair draped with a chunky knit blanket, a pastel-coloured desk with warm backlighting and a monitor and a Nintendo Switch covered with a minimalist, beige sticker decal. These are the basic ingredients that make up a gaming trend taking over TikTok right now.
What are cozy games?
The types of games featured in these TikToks, YouTube videos, Twitch streams, and similar content often stick to a similar genre—and they aren’t first-person shooters. Instead, they typically fall into the category of life-simulation (aka Simulation) games, which involve day-to-day tasks and open-ended play. They often encourage highly customised design elements and detailed character building and emphasise non-violence. CT Jones, culture writer at Rolling Stone, adds that they’re “defined by their ability to learn quickly, low-stakes, casual vibe, and often mimic familiar, real-life situations.” In short, they tend to romanticise the every day and the mundane. Examples include The Sims franchise, Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, of course.
@cozy.games cozy games for those rough days inspired by my current cold lol👇🏽 🐇 Bunhouse 🏠 House Flipper 🧺 Palia (free) 🌺 Happy Home Paradise (ACNH DLC) 🐴 Breath of the Wild #cozygames #cozygaming #cozygamerecommendation #cozygamesonswitch #cozygamesforswitch #cozygame #bestcozygames #freecozygames
♬ just.be. - 🍀
@cozysimespy Now is the time to get some games from your wishlist! Here are the games I’m looking to get during the sale🤍 #cozygamer #cozygaming #cozygamergirl #gamergirl #gamerecommendations #cozygames #citybuilder
♬ Snowy Morning - FREDERIC BOUCHAL
The cozy gaming trend doesn’t have a precise origin moment; after all, sim games have been around for decades. However its roots seem to coincide with the early COVID-19 pandemic popularity of Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The routine-based game set in real time became a way for millions of players to relax and escape the stress of quarantine on a daily basis. Since then, much of the cozy gaming scene has remained centred on Switch consoles, with Nintendo actively embracing the trend. A notable example is the MySims: Cozy Bundle, a retro-release of two Wii games that encourage players to craft charming worlds with cartoon-like characters and taps into 2000s and 2010s nostalgia.
@laelindria I cannot wait to get to know all the villagers in MySims and MySims Kingdom! Who is your fave? 👀 ✨ Get MySims Cozy Bundle on Nintendo Switch now! #ad #cozygames #cozygamer #mysims #mysimscozybundle #sponsoredbyEA
♬ original sound - lae ⋆⭒˚.⋆🪐 ⋆⭒˚.⋆
Women dominate the cozy game trend
Over the past year in particular, I’ve noticed a significant surge in cozy gaming content skyrocket on my feeds (especially on YouTube). And, unlike most gaming trends and streams, which are often dominated by men, this trend is largely female-driven. In fact, most online personalities who engage with the trend in their content—or indeed have built entire digital brands based on their cozy game reviews—are Gen Z women. Get it girls.
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One of the most prominent pioneers at the heart of the trend is Cozy K, a former startup lawyer turned full-time content creator named Kennedy. Since kickstarting her accounts in 2020, the influencer now has hundreds of thousands of followers across Instagram, TikTok, Youtube and more, and has been the focus of several cozy game trend pieces, including one in Rolling Stone. In a 2021 interview with Embedded on Substack, Kennedy explained that she began her Cozy Games Instagram as an outlet because she was stressed about law school. From there it slowly blossomed into an account focused on inclusive gaming in a cozy, ultra-hygge setting.
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“The marketing towards gaming is not that great,” Kennedy told culture writer Kate Lindsay, “it focuses mainly on one kind of identity.” In her interview with Rolling Stone, Kennedy expands on this, saying that the genre isn’t new, but that the community around these types of games is. “Before, it felt like I’m just a person who happens to play games sometimes. And the games I personally like no one really talks about. And now it feels like there is a place in the gaming world for me to actually identify myself as a gamer. Now it’s more of a communal experience,” she continued.
As a 20-something-year-old woman who’s played video games my whole life, one of the first times I came across a game review that felt geared towards my interests and written in a way I found engaging was on The White Pube’s website. Here, Gabrielle de la Puente explores the role games play in her life—how they function as escapism but also as a way for her to connect with loved ones. These honest, nuanced reviews of games ranging from Zelda to IRL Bingo echoed how I felt games fit into my life.
Now, I see these ideas extended in the cozy gaming trend and its adjacent community. This broadening of what being a gamer is and looks like online has made the hobby more inclusive and inviting. “I’m seeing a lot of women in their twenties and thirties, some in their forties even—this different generation that’s always liked gaming, but never felt included,” Felicia, a moderator of the subreddit r/CozyGamers told Rolling Stone.
Indie games are on the rise, resulting in swathes of new, diverse game content. Meanwhile video game marketing has jumped on the cozy trend recently and as a whole, has become more inclusive of women and LGBTQIA+ gamers. As Kennedy puts it: “There’s this pride around cozy gaming now, and I think that’s a really important thing, especially for people who haven’t been centred in gaming for all of these years.”
