Microsoft Vetoed A Black Woman On Cover For Fable II

[pokoko]

Soundwave said:

pokoko said:
Anyone else chuckle at that guy's story? "A black woman on the cover means you can be anyone you want!" How does that even make any sense? If you want people to think they can be different characters then you put different characters on the cover, not just one. His entire argument sounds kind of silly.

I used to do the ordering for a video store. When people are browsing, they're drawn to titles that are marketed toward them. That's a fact of life and common sense. I've seen it a billion times. It's why we had minority led titles grouped together--not because it's what WE wanted but because it's what the CUSTOMER wanted. Is a black person who rents four movies about black people being racist? No, they're just drawn to material they feel reflects them personally. With a game like Fable, the marketing people were marketing toward the group they feel would buy the most units. I see nothing controversial about that.

I think the developers point is that black women are not often protrayed as heroes in games/movies as such the point would be that anyone can be a hero which is representative of a key feature in the game.

The marketing people often don't know shit either. Today's audience doesn't care about this stuff, if a game is good they'll buy it. The best selling game of the last several years is Grand Theft Auto V (which is going to sell like 50 billion copies at this rate) which has had playable black lead characters.

If that was his point then it fails unless the consumer already knows the characters can be customized, in which case the cover won't matter.  For the person browsing, who has little knowledge of the game, you're not telling them the hero can be "anyone", you're telling them the hero is a black female.  If you think most of the people out looking for new games are black females thent that's awesome, go for it.

As for GTA V, it would have sold millions regardless of anything.  However, regarding the cover, I think it backs up what I was saying perfectly.