Tomb Raider?
a lot of resident evil games?
metroid?
bayonetta?
no? okay, i must just be imagining things.
a lot of resident evil games?
metroid?
bayonetta?
no? okay, i must just be imagining things.
Rumor: Activision Doesn't Think Female Leads Can Sell Games
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
Seems Activision has never heard of Tomb raider or Metroid or Bayonetta or mirrors edge or FF13 or.. Resident evil apparently or..Well you get my point. Well no surprises their really Activision living in its own fantasy world(ironic) where they think they know best.
While I agree for the most part that female leads can sell games just as well as male leads can, GTA is one series I wouldnt use one for. I just cant see a badass borderline psychopath female lead doing very well for a couple reasons.CitySquirrel said:
1. Carjackings. Women are generally smaller than men, so either the character would have to be a pretty hefty woman (probably making her less appealing of a character), the character wouldnt be very good at stealing cars when unarmed, or people would have to give up their cars to 120 pound women extremely easily.
2. The main character's constant yelling. Most of the mains in GTA games (except Claude) spend a lot of time yelling. I remember Niko would often be yelling every other time he killed someone or stole a car. Its harder to find a female voice that would come off as badass. More likely, the player would be unable to take her as seriously or would just be annoyed by her.
Personally, I dont think I would play a GTA game with a female lead, so I can kinda understand where Activision is coming from on this.
Oh please, like Activision is the only company to think this. I know we all want to hate on Activision but let's be fair a lot of companies have to come to this conclusion and have acted on it. To dismiss this as 'Evil Activision' is misleading at best. They have a point whether you like it or not. Gamers are a bunch of misogynistic jerks who don't want to play as frilly girls because they're weak and have tea parties and men are strong and lift boulders and stuff. If they do have females they either have to be over sexualized or pretty much be a man in womens clothing (e.g. Halo Reach female spartan, Gears 3 females, Critical Miss).
If you're going to go at Activision get them for things that other companies don't actually do. Like when Kotick's had to much coke and says stupid shit.
If you're going to go at Activision get them for things that other companies don't actually do. Like when Kotick's had to much coke and says stupid shit.
This makes perfect sense to me, considering that they are relying on test groups and Activision is run by a pack of douchebags.
Test groups are notorious for ruining good things. A lot of movies had really good endings to them until test groups came along and chose not to like them, at which point the studios forced the director to change the endings. I assume test groups do the same for games.
As for Activision being run by douchebags, I think that quality speaks for itself.
Test groups are notorious for ruining good things. A lot of movies had really good endings to them until test groups came along and chose not to like them, at which point the studios forced the director to change the endings. I assume test groups do the same for games.
As for Activision being run by douchebags, I think that quality speaks for itself.
Chell never speaks, and has about as much character development as the companion cube. Also, you only know she's a girl if you care to set up some portals to look in and find out.TestECull said:
tl;dr: Chell could be a midget bear and it wouldnt change Portal at all.
First;
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/470146
Second;
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/470146
Second;
Aww, come on guys, I can't be the only one who remembers Perfect Dark, can I? That was a good example of a strong..ish female lead within a good...ish plot who was never portrayed as being inadequate or otherwise solely for being a woman. She could also be genuinely sexy rather than being falsely sexified.Furious Styles said:
Well, lets take a look at some games with Female Leads.
FF 13 is one of the best selling Final Fantasy games ever.
Tomb Raider and Metroid are two of the most well known series of all time.
Perfect Dark is known as a classic by some gamers.
Resident Evil 5 has a playable female character and it sold very well despite the AI issues.
Oblivion, Mass Effect and Fallout all allow players to customize to a female character.
Your gender doesn't matter. I played True Crime: streets of LA and I liked the style and feel of it. Almost like it was out of a cheesy cop movie (Which I assume was what they were going for) and in my eyes, a Lucy Lue esque character would have worked. It would have been better then Snoop Dogg thats for sure.
FF 13 is one of the best selling Final Fantasy games ever.
Tomb Raider and Metroid are two of the most well known series of all time.
Perfect Dark is known as a classic by some gamers.
Resident Evil 5 has a playable female character and it sold very well despite the AI issues.
Oblivion, Mass Effect and Fallout all allow players to customize to a female character.
Your gender doesn't matter. I played True Crime: streets of LA and I liked the style and feel of it. Almost like it was out of a cheesy cop movie (Which I assume was what they were going for) and in my eyes, a Lucy Lue esque character would have worked. It would have been better then Snoop Dogg thats for sure.
I think it's funny that they actually are treating lead roles being female as a primary variable in a game's sales.
They could get over it by possibly making a good game with a male lead, essentially completing the game. They would then change the sex of the lead, and do over everything in the game directly having to do with the character's gender (i.e. voice acting, cutscenes?), and then release it. I'm sure it will be fine.
They could get over it by possibly making a good game with a male lead, essentially completing the game. They would then change the sex of the lead, and do over everything in the game directly having to do with the character's gender (i.e. voice acting, cutscenes?), and then release it. I'm sure it will be fine.
A very large percentage of male gamers are, for various reasons, uncomfortable with or unable to play a female character. However, they seem quite capable of playing some really effeminate male characters, which I suppose means they're comfortable as long as the dude is, under all that hair and gloss, a dude.
Everyone's got their preference on what they want to play, and most people by and large want to identify as closely as possible with the character on the screen, but I know, not everyone feels that way. I'll freely admit I play a mixture of both male and female in games where I'm allowed to pick.
I think Activision is right, male leads will sell more games. I wish it wasn't so, but they're just looking at what sells in the marketplace. Also, would you rather they have said they prefer selling more games that have female leads as sex objects?
This veers into some very thorny territory where just what makes an acceptable female character something that is more empowering or offensive. It's too bad there aren't more games that take the approach of most MMOs, but even single player games like Dragon Age or Mass Effect and let you pick the gender you want to play as. Of course, whenever you look at the ad copy for ME or DA, it's the male Sheppard or a male lead from DA.
Everyone's got their preference on what they want to play, and most people by and large want to identify as closely as possible with the character on the screen, but I know, not everyone feels that way. I'll freely admit I play a mixture of both male and female in games where I'm allowed to pick.
I think Activision is right, male leads will sell more games. I wish it wasn't so, but they're just looking at what sells in the marketplace. Also, would you rather they have said they prefer selling more games that have female leads as sex objects?
This veers into some very thorny territory where just what makes an acceptable female character something that is more empowering or offensive. It's too bad there aren't more games that take the approach of most MMOs, but even single player games like Dragon Age or Mass Effect and let you pick the gender you want to play as. Of course, whenever you look at the ad copy for ME or DA, it's the male Sheppard or a male lead from DA.