I think things really changed during the course of the last decade. Games became much more mainstream thanks to better graphics, greater accessibility and a wider variety of themes and settings.
Me and my wife have known each other for almost ten years. In the beginning, she was tolerant of video games (growing up with two older brothers helped I'm sure), but never really interested in them. But she was a fan of horror/thriller movies, so the first games we played together were games that evoked those movies: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Heavy Rain, Until Dawn.
Then Far Cry 5 came out, and since my wife had always had a thing for stories about crazy cults, we played it together and loved it. Next we played The Witcher 3. From then on she was a believer (and had hell of a crush on Geralt lol). It took her some time get comfortable with a controller, but I think it was when we played Assassin's Creed: Syndicate that it finally clicked, and she was able to finish whole missions on her own. Say what you want about Ubisoft games, but they are a great way to introduce people to gaming.
Normally my wife doesn't care much for playing as "strong" female characters, but she liked Evie from AC:S. Another thing she never cared for is crazy anime aesthetics. So one day I decided to give her a real shock and put in Bayonetta, and to my surprise she completely fell in love with it and even the character.
Stuff like The Sims she was never interested in. Today her favorite genre is first person shooters. I'm basically living the dream.