Thread by @GailSimone

I worked with three massive video game franchises in the past couple years where women working on them each individually told me their bosses were shocked and unprepared for the number of women and girls buying their games. Some expressed disbelief rather than delight.

https://twitter.com/nextgenplayer/status/1397709057822269441

When Disney Infinity and Lego Dimensions launched, it was believed at the corporate level boys would be turned off if the starter sets included female characters. Lego fought to include one, Disney zero.

(The sole female starter character was Wyldstyle).

This continued during the run of both games (and I stress, I loved these games, two of my all-time favorites), despite the actual developers fighting to include more female characters, which led to weird decisions like Lone Ranger getting more in-game content than Frozen.

I also stress the developers are not the bad guys here. They were trying. But when the numbers came in, they expected a 70/30 split of male to female players. The real numbers were almost equal.

But the characters don’t reflect that at all.

Again, I love these games. I bought every figure and game pack.

But this happens ALL THE TIME, even in bookselling, where female purchasing power is impossible to ignore.

It’s insulting to everybody, not just women.

Aside from sidelining the ACTUAL CUSTOMERS, it says boys and men are too fragile to handle any content without a male lead. Which is absolute horseshit and not goof from an artistic, sociological, OR capitalist perspective.

I cannot tell you how many companies I have toured or worked for where the women took me aside and said that even with a large female purchasing base, everything always had to be targeted to a male audience, for fear of scaring off boy customers.

I have a lot more faith in guys than that.

But also, why WOULDN’T you want dollars from a wider audience?

Do they spend differently?

Why are we still thinking this way?

I play Bayonetta and Dead Or Alive. I AM their audience.

There’s money on the table.

Not every game has to appeal equally. Developers and players should have choices.

But when the default at a corporate level is ‘oh, my god, hide the girls,’ that’s just insulting and archaic.

I’m not picking on gamers. Like what you like.

And most developers seem to be trying to be a little more inclusive and welcoming. I know some great ones personally.

But there is a problem at the decision-making level, above all of us, and that bit could stand some looking at.