'Women are the new core,' says Microsoft narrative designer

[pokoko]

rutea7 said:
Also I don't own the system cause I chose not to and as a female gamer should have a say in this. I want to play good games and like jay said its not about playing a female, I love my oldschool ff games where the protagonists are male. Cloud, squall, zidane. As long as its a good story I'm in.

That's what I think.  A lot of what I'm reading from people in the industry sounds artificial, like these developers and publishers are looking at the demographics and then rushing out to force in more female characters for the sake of appealing to female gamers.  It comes across as really contrived.  If your writers bring you a good story with a good main character, then go with it; don't try to change it into a female OR male for the sake of marketing.  As a consumer, that feels insulting.

When I read a novel, I'm not worrying about what gender the main character is.  When I watch a new series, I'm not throwing it aside if it's not a male hero.  Why do they think games should be any different?  It should be what fits the concept.  The quality is the important part.

I think there have been more than enough successful female characters for people to finally stop worrying about a female lead being bad for sales.