Does sexualization in video games really sells?

[Smooth Operator]

Well when it comes to marketing nothing is exact science, they just test shit out and it has been proven that product X plus tits will on average sell better then just product X.

And don't think people are doing it consciously, when it comes to men attractive ladies make our brains turn on the happy switch, added to that when we are reminded of sex we suspend all logic for a few seconds... that mix can make us do some darn stupid things.

 

[Swyftstar]

Every time I've ever thought about buying a game just for the sex appeal I remembered that porn exists and came to my senses.

 

[saintdane05]

Why do you think people kept playing Tomb Raider? It wasn't for the puzzles, thats for sure.

 

[snappydog]

It can interest me, at least... I mean, there's a couple of games I've been more inclined to buy 'cos I know there's a sexy times involved, but... Actually, no. I would never buy a game based solely on sexualised marketing. What I mean to say, I think, is that sexy women can catch my attention. Thus, if there is one involved, I would be more likely to stop and look at it. If I like what I see of it, I will buy it. But I'm buying it because I'm interested in the game and not the sexualisation, it's just that I wouldn't have looked at the game to start with if it weren't for the boobages.

 

[Shuguard]

Because a good game can't have boobs?

I have bought games with sexy people in it . It wasn't the main reason , but it certainly didn't hurt . I'll give an example . When i first saw Catherine ( the game ) the first thing i saw was two sexy women both named catherine . That got me curious , so i looked into the game ( it certainly didn't hurt that it was also made by atlus ). Now after looking into the game , i found it interesting and bought it day one collectors edition . And the game quite honestly is great . Now i probably wouldn't have looked into the game if it didn't make me curious , and probably wouldn' have bought it ( certainly not day one anyways ), and i would have missed out on an amazing game .

We all know you wanted the pink polka-dotted boxers, Catherine pillow case, and t-shirt.

but OT: I don't personally buy games for the TnA but it never hurts to have some.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

I would fucking well hope not, though that's probably just wishful thinking on my part. >.> Now I'm not a prude, if anything I'm quite the lecher, but there's a time and a place for this kind of thing and if I'm looking to buy a game it's for some kind of entertainment/engagement from either the game-play/story or both on such lucky occasions. If I'm looking for titillation, then the internet can readily supply me with vast quantities of much more graphic material for free and it's with this advent of the internet that the perpetuation of sex appeal in advertisement leaves me rather befuddled. I mean I can see the old cliche mantra of sex sells making a fair deal of sense before we could indulge whatever absurdly depraved fantasies our minds could conjure with the click of a button, but now that we have that luxury, what use is there in putting forward some pixelated cleavage as an incentive to purchase? If anything that just smacks of desperation, it tells me that the people marketing the game can't think of enough reasons to purchase the game on the merits of it's game-play/story; nervously looking around the room before prying up a big revealing poster and shouting 'Look! Look at the tits! Please just fucking buy this thing!' So while the answer is most likely yes, it seems that I fail to understand why. =/

 

[MrHide-Patten]

I would be lying if I said that I didn't notice Bioshock infinite based off of Elizabeth's Corset pillows. But since they got my attention I've played the original and really excited for it to be released (was really bummed when it got delayed).
So I will say that whilst sexuality won't make me buy a game, it certain makes me notice it. Its part of the male biology, unexplainable as to why boobs are exactly that hypnotic.

On a side note I get very sort of sick of the fake chivalry, the white knight even though his armor is made of toilet paper. I'm not going to pretend for a second that boobs aren't great and the day we force every girl to wear a berka is the day I swan dive off a cliff.

 

[Killspre]

Dead or Alive Extreme beach volleyball... do I need to say more. I mean they made two of these games. Even without this example a game like Mass Effect had that whole sex scandal and it sold more copies because of it. So yes sex sells.

 

[Lars]

Hentai games.

nuff said.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

If anything I find it to be a deterrent. I usually think either:

"What's this game lacking that it needs to compensate for with eye candy?"

or

"Will the cashier give me a weird look when I buy this game?"

I bought Catherine despite the sexualization, thankfully it had more than enough appeal outside of it.

 

[Mysterious Username]

Eh, personally it tends to keep me away. It's embarrassing as hell if a game I like is sleazy as fuck, because then I look like a creep.

But there are the sort of people who like that sort of thing and they'll buy it up. Nice way to get some quick cash for a weak game.

 

[sanquin]

Are over sexualized females in games the REASON at least a part of the buyers, buy those games? I don't think so. Does it count in the overall decision of many a gamer? I do think so.

Just look at games like the TES series. What are some of the first mods that come out for said games? Right, nude mods, skimpy outfit and armor mods, and sexier looking females mods. And not just for TES games either. Any game that has moddable female character models, will have nude and 'make them sexier' mods. So at the very least it does play a part in sales.

Heck, I bet TERA sold more copies than it would have, had the females been wearing actual armor (especially the plate/chain ones) instead of mini bikini's with extra pieces of cloth attached to them to resemble arm/shoulder/leg pieces.


Over-sexualizaiton is a huge deterrent for me personally though. I was very excited about TERA's combat and overall aesthetics/graphics. But the way most characters dressed made me almost not buy it. Not that I played it for long, but still. I refuse to even try games like DOA at friends. Etc.

 

[Gunjester]

Sexualization of female charcters in games is something that's been around for decades, but does it really work? when was the last time( if at all ) you saw someone buy a game because there is a sexy and revealing chick on the cover

Although it may make others garner hate for me, I've never done it, but to some degree it does work with me. Allow me to explain: Though I've never bought a game because I wanted to see the girl more or anything stupid like that, when I'm walking through EBgames I tend to notice games with those covers and take a quick gander. If the back of the box entices me enough to want to try it, I download a demo, if not, I pop it back and so forth.
Ultimately I think that's where the model works, once you first see the girl in the chainmail bikini, it wears off, but as an eyecatcher, at least for men (and presumably some women), it works well.

 

[Shadow flame master]

I tend to stay away from buying any games with women who are well indowed or in sexual positions because I'm scared of what the cashier might think. Besides that, sex doesn't sell to me unless I'm horny at that second, and I have the internet for that.

Thank God for hentai and porn in general.

 

[WoahDan]

Its never been much of an influence on me, but I cant speak for other people.

Personally I don't think it is as much of a factor as marketing has convinced developers it is though,think about it of all the big sellers which actually have sex as a main focus? It just occurred to me that it's not actually all that many.

HALO? Nope, Cortana's cheescakification is as sexual as it gets and she's on-screen for like 10 minutes total across all the games. COD:MW/BO? Nope, albeit that's because there are no women in the games full stop. Gears? I haven't played Gears so couldn't say, but from what I have seen not really. Skyrim? Nope,at least not in the game as it was released. Mario/anything Nintendo releases? Big Nope. Almost all casual games? Nope. Minecraft? Nope. Half-Life? Undertones but its not a focus. Pac-Man? Nope. Tetris? Nope. Sonic? Not in any of the games that count. Kinect adventures? Nope. The Sims? Present, but not what I would call a focus. Gran Turismo? (which I didn't realise is as popular as it is) Nope. FIFA? Nope. Damn near all sports games for that matter? Nope. Angry Birds (which I refuse to believe is that popular, according to wiki it has sold more than every non-casual game combined)? Nope. Final Fantasy? Nope,romance yeah but sex itself? Not really, not in any of the ones that have sold enough to make this list anyway.

I just went through Wikipedia's list of best selling video-games and the only 'big' franchises (which I define as containing a game that has broken double-didget millions)that contain sex as a main focus are: GTA (no surprise), and possibly Final Fantasy (which I don't count). It seems to me that sex is the refuge of the second stringer, your games that still need to attract more customers, the truly big names don't need that shit.

Wow, this industry is much less sexualised than I had realised, score one for gaming I guess.

 

[Vault101]

the oral scene in Secret world didn't affect my decision to purchase at all.....AT ALL *cough*

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

I seem to recall a study saying sexualized marketing actually decreases the likelihood of a sale, because the consumer will typically go "Ooh! Boobs! (Or possibly abs, but we're speaking specifically about games here, and do you know of any developers who market their games by sexualizing male characters?)" and then forget what the product was, having been too distracted by the sexy to notice the product itself. Of course, I found that study through a Cracked article, so it's probably best to take that with great fistfulls of salt.

 

[chadachada123]

I think that it doesn't work, because I'm personally somewhat insulted and turned off by the majority of sexualized game covers;

 

[Zhukov]

I don't know if it sells (I would love to see some numbers on this... somehow).

However, it sure as hell does gain attention and in the world of marketing that's kinda the next best thing to a guaranteed sale.

Let's face it fellas, if you're browsing a shelf or looking down a list of games and one of them has a hot (or attempted hot) chick on the cover wearing three postage stamps and some string then you'll look at it and you'll probably read the title. You might roll your eyes, you might think "oh come on, that is such blatant pandering", you might resolve to never buy a game that has to resort to such cheap tricks, but when all is said and done, your eye will be stopped, if only for a moment.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

I guess it might work on the principal that if something gets peoples attention enough that they'lll pick it up off the shelf, even if it's only their dick that told them to do it, that it's more likely to then get bought then a game that doesn't even get a second glance.

('any publicity is good publicity' type mentality, and i guess it must work to some degree otherwise it wouldn't keep getting used?)