| Turkish said: -Gravity Rush -Horizon (Amazon nr1 best seller in US, UK, FR, DE etc) -Nier Automata -Tales of Berseria -Detroit -Uncharted Lost Legacy -TLOU II Seems a far cry from last gen when it was sort of tabboo by marketing people to feature a girl character prominently on the cover because it would sell less. Was Naughty Dog that broke the trend by refusing to hide away Ellie on the cover of TLOU? |
I'd argue it's been a trend in gaming in general these last few years. It's something I first noticed, when we had a bunch of major game reveals with female main characters back in 2015. I don't think it's any coincidence this began to happen a few years after people began complaining about a lack of women in major releases. Although Japan has also always been better about this then western games anyway, which is why a bunch of those games hail from Japan.
For instance, Platinum's most well known character and name is probably Bayonetta. So it's certainly not unusual to see a game like Nier Automata from them.
In any case, it's a trend I've been happy to see. I like having variety in my video game protagonists. I just hope some of these turn out to be good characters.
| arcaneguyver said: Pretty sure the "no girls on covers" thing died as soon as it went public. Or at perhaps the likes of TLoU and Overwatch destroyed it. Now that female representation is up, expect nitpicky complaints about portrayal, the leads just not strong and independent *enough.* |
Well, this was never JUST about the number of women starring in games. This is also about the quality of the characters. And I'm not just talking about making sure every single one is a bland "strong independent woman with no faults". This is a trope that goes back to at least the 90s, and it's almost as bad as no representation period. And on that front, I think it can at least be argued that video games have some progress to make. But I'd also argue that characters like rebooted Lara Croft and Ellie from The Last of Us (assuming she is actually a main playable character in the sequel) are solid characters.
I think Extra Credits did a pretty good video on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1qndga6SNU
