Remember Me rejected by publishers due to female protagonist

Remember Me's female protagonist Nilin made some publishers uneasy, both for sales and fears of making players feel "awkward" when she kisses a male character.

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Remember Me is a cyberpunk adventure featuring a heroine named Nilin attempting to find her memories in 2084's Neo-Paris. The fact that Nilin is a "she" instead of a "he" caused reservations among publishers, though, as creative director Jean-Maxime Moris says some were unwilling to take on the game due to her gender.

"We had some that said, 'Well, we don't want to publish it because that's not going to succeed. You can't have a female character in games. It has to be a male character, simple as that,'" Moris told the PA Report. He went on to describe that Nilin, at one point, would be seen kissing a male character, which made the publishers doubly uncomfortable. "We had people tell us, 'You can't make a dude like the player kiss another dude in the game, that's going to feel awkward.'

"I'm like, 'If you think like that, there's no way the medium's going to mature,' There's a level of immersion that you need to be at, but it's not like your sexual orientation is being questioned by playing a game. I don't know, that's extremely weird to me."

Moris said that making Nilin a woman was "not a decision" but rather simply "something that just felt right from the beginning."

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 19, 2013 8:15 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Remember Me rejected by publishers due to female protagonist.

    Remember Me's female protagonist Nilin made some publishers uneasy, both for sales and fears of making players feel "awkward" when she kisses a male character.

    • reply
      March 19, 2013 8:26 AM

      This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

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      March 19, 2013 8:34 AM

      I hope this does sell, I don't mind a female protag when done right. Samus (sans other m), Lara Croft and Jill Valentine are all part of big franchises that have sold millions of units. Though it is interesting to note that none of them have overt love interests (even if every ships Chris and Jill).

      I guess we'll see if it's something that resonates with the larger gameplaying audience of young males.

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        March 19, 2013 8:36 AM

        "I don't mind a female protag when done right."

        That's very gracious of you.

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          March 19, 2013 8:38 AM

          Does what he said bother you in some way?

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            March 19, 2013 8:40 AM

            Au contraire, he's very open-minded to allow female protagonists in his games.

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            March 19, 2013 8:40 AM

            Video games with male protagonists done right: very few. The vast majority of male protagonists are rubbish and awful.

            But female protagonists, well, they need to be "done right."

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              March 19, 2013 9:11 AM

              I would like to see less "dudebro" characters, and more "gentleman and scholar" characters, when it comes to male protagonists. Unfortunately, most action games go cheap on character writing, or the writer has a dudebro agenda.

              Same goes for female protagonists; I want to see less "hot chick with a sword", and more strong and intelligent personalities. I have to ask: how did the new Tomb Raider do in that respect?

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                March 19, 2013 9:18 AM

                professor layton should star in every game!

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                March 19, 2013 9:47 AM

                Really was a great game and went through much more emotions than a normal game, the only problem I had with it was they turned lara croft into a homicidal murderer giving us a plethora of arsenal to upgrade and mow down bad guys with.

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              March 19, 2013 9:29 AM

              What do you think of FemShep and BroShep

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                March 19, 2013 12:51 PM

                Useless. Her Great and Mighty Samara is where true power is located.

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              March 19, 2013 9:47 AM

              Disagreed.

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              March 19, 2013 9:49 AM

              So it's impossible for games with female protaganists to be 'rubbish'? It's insulting to imply that the character has to be a good one? If ratios of games with male/female protagonists were equal, there would be an equal amount of 'rubbish' females. Hop off that high horse, Anita Sarkeesian.

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                March 19, 2013 10:00 AM

                The current track record of female leads does tend to agree with the idea that games with female leads can't possibly be rubbish.

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                March 19, 2013 10:15 AM

                It is possible for video games with female protagonists to be 'rubbish.' Given the state of video game characters, it's quite likely.

                Yes, if ratios of games with male/female protagonists were equal, there would be an equal amount of 'rubbish' females. I entirely agree with that sentence.

                Yes, it is insulting to imply that protagonists should only be female if they can be "done right."

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                  March 19, 2013 10:21 AM

                  I just don't get how you are insulted by someone wanting better representation of how women are depicted in games.

                  Do you not get offended when female protagonists are just tits and ass husks for male gaze enjoyment?

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                  March 19, 2013 10:31 AM

                  'Yes, it is insulting to imply that protagonists should only be female if they can be "done right." '

                  Why would that be insulting? Would you want an over-sexed, ridiculous character over one that was 'done right'? You're contradicting your own statement.

                  " I want more female characters but they shouldn't be 'done right' because that's insulting, even though the risk of more stereotypical, rubbish females characters would be higher.' You can't have it both ways. Female characters have to be 'done right' because if they aren't, not only do they make games bad, they mischaracterize women and perpetuate female stereotypes.

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                    March 19, 2013 11:07 AM

                    I don't see Alice mentioning the oversexualization of female characters anywhere.

                    Female characters should not be protected to "be done right" on the basis of their gender.

                    The gender of a protagonist is irrelevant. Both genders have been 'mischaracterized' and perpetuated stereotypes.

                    Placing limits on the existence of a female protagonist doesn't help, as much as you think it may protect them. It creates a different divide.

                    She isn't contradicting shit.

                    How about "don't write a shitty character"?

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                      March 19, 2013 6:06 PM

                      Yea "done right" leaves a lot to the imagination and can be interpreted in many ways. I agree with what adamp117 said.

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                        March 20, 2013 7:06 AM

                        I assume "done right" in his statement was more of a reflection on the immaturity in the industry in general, and not necessarily one indicative of the quality of character.

                        Frequently, female characters in games are big-chested, scantily clad damsels in distress. Male characters are rarely modeled as though they just returned from a Chippendale's shoot, and thus no worry about them being "done right".

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                    March 19, 2013 11:20 AM

                    because would you ever say "i don't mind a male protagonist when done right"? no, because male is considered the default. if a male character is terrible, no one ever says it's because he's a male or uses it as an argument to have less male protagonists. but female characters are defined first as female characters, and that's pretty dumb.

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                      March 19, 2013 11:29 AM

                      I would say that there are already a wide diverse range of male characters in games, from nerdy silent protagonists, to stereotypical feminine jrpg types, to brodudes, to antiheroes, etc. 95% of the time when a female is in a game, she is depicted as the eyecandy T and A with little story development.

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                      March 19, 2013 11:38 AM

                      I would say that. The original statement should've been "I don't mind a protagonist when done right".

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                        March 19, 2013 11:40 AM

                        I still think Alice was overreacting. Yes all protagonists should be done right, but female protagonists usually get the short end of the stick.

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                          March 19, 2013 12:16 PM

                          Yes, but imo, because snubble's post was in reply to an article in which the sex of the character is the main issue, it seems to imply that he's saying "I don't mind a female protagonist when done right, otherwise it bothers me and I prefer a man".

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                          March 19, 2013 12:21 PM

                          [deleted]

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                        March 19, 2013 1:25 PM

                        Yes they should.

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                    March 19, 2013 12:03 PM

                    [deleted]

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                      March 19, 2013 6:42 PM

                      I see it as similar to someone saying "I don't mind having a female boss if she's good at her job." How big of you!

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                March 19, 2013 10:17 AM

                I get the feeling everyone is unable to read Alice's post. Maybe I'm misinterpreting her.

                "I don't mind a female protag when done right" implies that if she isn't done right, the fact it's a female will bother him.

                The gender of a character should be completely irrelevant. The quality of that character is a different subejct and not connected in any way.

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                  March 19, 2013 11:08 AM

                  The gender of a character should not be completely irrelevant, but is should not restrict the narrative possibilities of the game. I would love to see more great female characters, but I find poorly executed female characters to be way worse than poorly executed male ones. Typically poor male characters are either shallow dudebros, or just blank avatars. Poor female characters are frequently very sexist and perpetuate shitty stereotypes that turn women away from gaming.

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              March 19, 2013 10:07 AM

              Alice, serious question, so when a game like Metroid Other M is released where they completely spay her and make her completely submissive and subservient, you are ok with that because, well at least she was female?

              Surely you would agree that that would be an example of a female protagonist 'done wrong' and why he would need to put that disclaimer in his post?

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              March 19, 2013 6:04 PM

              Maybe he meant it in the positive sense. As in not just putting a female character in a game and making her have exaggerated "assets" just for the sole reason of catering to a young male audience.

              You can take what he said positive if you want to.

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            March 19, 2013 9:11 AM

            Was her point confusing for you to understand in some way?

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          March 19, 2013 9:54 AM

          Right or wrong, female characters are scrutinized and aggressively criticized. Too sexy, plays to stereotypes too much, fails to present a positive image to girls, blah blah blah. So yeah, I'm not surprised a lot of us hold female characters to higher standards because we've been trained by the critique and backlash about how women are portrayed in games to expect and demand better.

          So if that's a bad thing, game reviewers, game publications, and people who push for better portrayal of women in games have themselves to blame.

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          March 19, 2013 9:59 AM

          Jump the gun much? I don't get why you would have a problem with his comment. Are you ok with female protagonists when they are just a pair of tits with no personality, ala Trespasser or Dead or Alive?

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          March 19, 2013 10:28 AM

          [deleted]

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        March 19, 2013 8:43 AM

        I think he meant he doesn't mind a female protagonist that developers don't sex up to raise... numbers.

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          March 19, 2013 9:24 AM

          I'm pretty sure Lara Croft was sexed up. When your boobs reach almost as far as your hand reaches, they might just get in the way. I'm talking old school Lara of course.

          Personally I have no issues, although I personally understand that females in any aspect of life are sexualized for our entertainment. Be it a TV/Movie character or a cartoon, females are always sexualized. At least games like Skyrim or ME let you create some pretty ugly characters, but I'm pretty sure the majority were trying to make their character look at least attractive to themselves unless wanting to play a less charismatic person.

          The thing is, it's possible these producers are looking at game sales data to analyze whether or not the gaming audience wants a femal protag or a female protag with a strictly hetro relationship. I agree with the developer though that without a chance, you can't expand the audience that might be fine with it.

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            March 19, 2013 9:25 AM

            Old-school Lara was interesting because she was sexy AND badass. That's the type of character, regardless of gender, I prefer to play. I mean, honestly, there aren't many unattractive male leads in games, either. Of course, publishers rarely push a male's sex appeal as a selling point.

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              March 19, 2013 9:40 AM

              Saints Row 3 had a penis size slider during character creation.

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          March 19, 2013 10:29 AM

          That is pretty much what I was trying to say. I should have elaborated a bit more on my thought and I apologize for that.

          I should have said that female protagonists do not bother me(to the contrary of the publisher in the article) and do not stop me from purchasing a game. I do have issue with the way some female characters are sexed up to better appeal to the young male demo. I have issue with things like Samus' zero suit (built in heels!) and the increase in it's appearance since Zero mission. I don't really like the way that Cortana has changed in visual design in Halo 4 as it isn't in keeping with the earlier games. As for Tomb Raider, I have to admit that I only started playing that franchise with the Crystal Dynamics games so for my experience that is what I'm basing my opinion on.


          Tl;dr I put my foot in my mouth. Apologies.

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        March 19, 2013 8:46 AM

        Don't forget Jade from BG&E, I thought Faith from Mirror's Edge was a decent protagonist too.

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          March 19, 2013 10:02 AM

          Totally blanked on those. I loved both of those games and still hold out hope for sequels that may never get made.

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        March 19, 2013 9:04 AM

        Also bayonetta was an amazing game.

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      March 19, 2013 8:34 AM

      I fucking hate the game industry sometimes.

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        March 19, 2013 8:35 AM

        It's no better or worse than other entertainment media... which isn't saying anything good.

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          March 19, 2013 8:49 AM

          [deleted]

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          March 19, 2013 8:50 AM

          Indeed. I'm trying to think of the last time I saw a movie with a female main character that wasn't largely about her trying to get a man.

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            March 19, 2013 9:29 AM

            It still pisses me off that the director of the Silent Hill movie was pushing for an all-female cast (which made sense) but the studios refused to green light it until he shoe-horned Sean Bean's character into the movie.

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              March 19, 2013 9:30 AM

              that's the right call though. sean bean needs to be shoehorned into everything.

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                March 19, 2013 9:33 AM

                Hey, I'm all about the Bean too, but that character had no business being in the movie.

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            March 19, 2013 9:59 AM

            Resident Evil series?

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            March 19, 2013 10:13 AM

            Zero Dark Thirty. Wait...

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            March 19, 2013 10:16 AM

            And most movies with male protagonists don't have a love interest? Even manly dudebro action movies tend to have a romantic subplot.

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              March 19, 2013 11:54 AM

              Yeah, i dont think anyone is arguing that the film or music industry is ideal, things are definitely not close to equal, but they're way way way better than gaming right now.

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            March 19, 2013 11:53 AM

            Really?

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        March 19, 2013 9:03 AM

        I can't speak specifically for these publishers, but it's usually not an immaturity or sexist debate, it's sales figures.

        Statistically games with female protagonists sell less than ones with males. I can't blame a business for looking at that and shying away from it.

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      March 19, 2013 8:40 AM

      fishing for pity purchases

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        March 19, 2013 8:44 AM

        Yeah, as idiotic as what the one publisher said is, it does kind of sound like they're inflating that one specific comment to get some attn for their game. Maybe the game actually sucks. Not enough evidence here.

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          March 19, 2013 8:49 AM

          Agreed.

          You could play as a female and (gasp) have SEX with boys in Mass Effect; I reject the notion that the games industry as a whole is afraid of touching female protagonists.

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            March 19, 2013 8:50 AM

            they're fine with touching females. it's touching males that they're worried will scare off teenage boys

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            March 19, 2013 9:16 AM

            Word. And to tell ya the truth, I much prefer Fem Shep to male Shep.

            ... though I still slept with women as fem Shep >_>

            But as referenced in this article, it wouldn't bother me to play as a female protagonist who has a romance with a dude, so long as it serves the story. If the story is good, and the execution works, then who cares?

            Oh, I know. The tween and collegiate COD crowd /facepalm

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            March 19, 2013 10:17 AM

            I think the difference was that it was an option and not the only choice in the ME series.

            Plus all the marketing featured male Shep. They didn't even create a default fem shep until the 3rd game.

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            March 19, 2013 11:57 AM

            Why do we see so few female lead characters then?

            Also, although providing the player to choose gender is a positive, its not nearly the same thing is creating and writing an interesting specific female character.

            Please help me out here thinking of all those recent games starring unique female leads.

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              March 19, 2013 12:18 PM

              might have to do with sales. Yes Tomb Raider and Metroid did gangbusters, but tomb raider was mostly because of tits and ass. Think of how many other female protagonist lead games that probably didn't make enough money to attract a trend, like mirrors edge, trespasser, bloodrayne, x-blades, etc.

              Producers seem to be short sighted, instead of copping to the fact that those games, aside from mirrors edge, were legit bad, all they see is 'female protagonist is the common link' and go for what 'works'.
              Somewhat like how movie producers saw a few movies with the name 'mars' in the title and did everything they could to take 'mars' out of John Carter of Mars. Dumb decisions that aren't made with logic.

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                March 19, 2013 12:19 PM

                Yeah, Jade from Beyond Good and Evil got screwed because they released it at the wrong time :(

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                  March 19, 2013 12:31 PM

                  another good example of a female protag driven game that didn't do well. I wonder if since majority of gamers are male, they just don't 'relate' to a female protag.

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                    March 19, 2013 12:57 PM

                    It's issue was no marketing and releasing on three different dates (one for each platform) in holiday season of 2003 that looked like this.
                    November 3 Fire Emblem N/A N/A GBA N/A
                    November 3 True Crime: Streets of LA N/A PS2, Xbox, GCN N/A N/A
                    November 4 Civilization III: Conquests Windows N/A N/A N/A
                    November 4 SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                    November 6 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                    November 10 Mario Party 5 N/A GCN N/A N/A
                    November 11 Beyond Good & Evil N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                    November 11 Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                    November 11 SSX 3 N/A N/A GBA N/A
                    November 12 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time N/A Xbox N/A N/A
                    November 12 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield N/A Xbox N/A N/A
                    November 13 The Simpsons: Hit & Run Windows N/A N/A N/A
                    November 14 Kya Dark Lineage N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                    November 15 Crash Nitro Kart N/A PS2, Xbox, GCN GBA, N-Gage N/A
                    November 17 Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga N/A N/A GBA N/A
                    November 17 Mario Kart: Double Dash!! N/A GCN N/A N/A
                    November 18 Final Fantasy X-2 N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                    November 18 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time N/A GCN N/A N/A
                    November 18 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Windows N/A N/A N/A
                    November 18 Manhunt N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                    November 18 Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun Windows N/A N/A N/A
                    November 19 Beyond Good & Evil Windows N/A N/A N/A
                    November 19 Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy N/A Xbox N/A N/A
                    November 25 Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne N/A Xbox N/A N/A
                    November 30 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Windows N/A N/A N/A
                    December 2 Beyond Good & Evil N/A Xbox N/A N/A
                    December 2 Deus Ex: Invisible War Windows Xbox N/A N/A
                    December 2 Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                    December 2 Silent Hill 3 Windows N/A N/A N/A
                    December 11 Beyond Good & Evil N/A GCN N/A N/A

                    • reply
                      March 19, 2013 1:02 PM

                      I should also mention the notable releases that came the two months before.

                      September 4 Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII Windows N/A N/A N/A
                      September 8 Anarchy Online: The Shadowlands Windows N/A N/A N/A
                      September 9 EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath Windows N/A N/A N/A
                      September 16 Homeworld 2 Windows N/A N/A N/A
                      September 16 The Simpsons: Hit & Run N/A PS2, Xbox, GCN GBA N/A
                      September 17 Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy Windows N/A N/A N/A
                      September 22 Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour Windows N/A N/A N/A
                      October 1 Freedom Fighters Windows PS2, Xbox, GCN N/A N/A
                      October 7 Viewtiful Joe N/A GCN N/A N/A
                      October 14 Jak II N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                      October 14 Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne Windows N/A N/A N/A
                      October 14 Mega Man Zero 2 N/A N/A GBA N/A
                      October 20 SSX 3 N/A PS2, Xbox, GCN N/A N/A
                      October 21 Time Crisis 3 N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                      October 21 Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 N/A N/A GBA N/A
                      October 27 Tony Hawk's Underground N/A PS2, Xbox, GCN GBA N/A
                      October 27 WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain N/A PS2 N/A N/A
                      October 28 Final Fantasy XI Windows (US) N/A N/A N/A
                      October 29 Call of Duty Windows N/A N/A N/A
                      October 29 The Suffering Windows PS2, Xbox, GCN N/A N/A

            • reply
              March 19, 2013 12:53 PM

              there's also the difference between simply a protagonist who happens to be female, and a protagonist that is female

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              March 19, 2013 1:12 PM

              The industry needs more Lara Crofts. (The new one who takes an epic ass kicking for 20 hours)

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          March 19, 2013 9:22 AM

          I thought this as well

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        March 19, 2013 8:50 AM

        I had never heard of this game until this story. At least they're getting more notice?

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      March 19, 2013 8:46 AM

      That story is as depressing as it is believable.

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      March 19, 2013 8:50 AM

      if i'm gonna play a video game character i may as well look at a chicks ass the whole time right guys !!!

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      March 19, 2013 9:06 AM

      Three of my favorite game protagonists in the past three years of games played have been women (Naija from Aquaria, Bayonetta, and Labrys from Persona 4 Arena). I understand that analysts like EEDAR keep saying that female-only protagonist games sell less than male-only, but it's up to publishers and producers to stop this.

      The game that became Sleeping Dogs allegedly originally had a female protagonist, but was rewritten when Activision execs paraded around these stats.

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        March 19, 2013 10:10 AM

        Publishers are the organizations of the gaming industry facing the brunt of pressure by capitalism to conform to the preference of the majority. They've always made decisions around what will maximize profit, and they always will. It's up to the developers to counteract this reality and demand their creative integrity remain intact.

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      March 19, 2013 9:18 AM

      Boy, the evidence that publishers are run by morons is growing a lot lately.

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      March 19, 2013 9:19 AM

      [deleted]

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      March 19, 2013 9:23 AM

      [deleted]

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      March 19, 2013 9:24 AM

      It doesn't matter who I'm playing really. IS THE GAME GOOD OR NOT?? :D

      KOTOR 1 female sith maurader got hit on all the time by that sly dog Carth and I knew he was staring at my plated armored ass all the time.

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      March 19, 2013 9:24 AM

      "No one lives forever" were amazing games

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      March 19, 2013 9:28 AM

      Take it to Quickstarter. If it is a great pitch they will have zero problems funding it. Honestly, with that attitude I wouldn't take that publisher's money even if it was offered.

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        March 19, 2013 10:10 AM

        What? It's a AAA cross-platform game, it's being published by Capcom, their budget is probably $25 million at least. They couldn't even begin to fund it via Kickstarter.

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          March 19, 2013 10:21 AM

          I haven't read anything about the budget, but if I were in their shoes I'd rather work with a smaller budget and preserve my artistic vision.

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            March 19, 2013 10:26 AM

            I think it's pretty obvious from what they want to do that it can't be done on a shoestring budget.

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            March 19, 2013 12:01 PM

            But.. they did as far as we can tell?

            They at first struggled to find a publisher that would take on a project with a female lead, but they stuck to their guns and the game is coming out soon.

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      March 19, 2013 9:45 AM

      Obviously these decisions were being made by shackers.

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      March 19, 2013 9:57 AM

      'You can't make a dude like the player kiss another dude in the game, that's going to feel awkward.'

      Wut

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      March 19, 2013 10:01 AM

      This isn't really a gender issue, publishers are always trying to suppress elements of their games that they think won't maximize appeal to the majority of consumers and thus maximize profits. This applies to any and all creative decisions by developers that haven't been proven to be as such. It's true that there's a large number of gamers who aren't used to having their only choice of character kissing guys, but it's also true there's plenty of other gamers who'd prefer it this way and by making the game like that the developers are helping to desensitize the uncomfortable gamers to this reality. The fact that the developers were able to go ahead with the female character anyway tells me this isn't a big issue because the game industry is changing regardless of resistance by dumb publishers.

      Also, the headline is misleading. The game WASN'T rejected by publishers in the end, and the current iteration of the game does indeed have a female protagonist. I'm kinda disappointed in shacknews for publishing the article with this slant, I already bailed on IGN and Kotaku for having an obnoxious amount of unnecessary and pointless gender related articles.

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      March 19, 2013 10:17 AM

      Fuck you publishers. These assholes are such a disease.

      If this turns out to be a great game, this will be another strike toward me completely writing off purchases from big name North American publishers.

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        March 19, 2013 2:33 PM

        "big name North American publishers" is a pretty sweeping statement

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      March 19, 2013 10:18 AM

      TexasGameJunkie?

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      March 19, 2013 10:30 AM

      [deleted]

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      March 19, 2013 10:38 AM

      I don't have the words to describe how fucking stupid this is.

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      March 19, 2013 10:39 AM

      Tomb Raider? Mirror's Edge?

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      March 19, 2013 10:40 AM

      Oh for fucks sake >_<

      Hope these guys go for kickstarter/alpha-crowdfunding or the like :/

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      March 19, 2013 10:57 AM

      The setting 2084 Neo-Paris has me intrigued. Could care less whether the main character is a woman.

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      March 19, 2013 11:09 AM

      Where do they come up with this shit? Is there any data to support that games with female leads sell worse?

      Honestly, not only do you have Tomb Raider, Mirrors Edge, Alice, and probably some others; you also have huge portions of gamers choosing to play females in MMO's and the Mass Effect community clammering for (and getting) the option of a female shepard.

      Hell, I actually will generally choose a male character given the choice (and as close to human as I can get to boot; I even make them look somewhat like me - or at least how I wish I looked) but that in no way dimished my enjoyment of, say, Tomb Raider which is probably my favorite game released this year.

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      March 19, 2013 11:16 AM

      Publishers,

      Pull your heads out of your asses.

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      March 19, 2013 11:23 AM

      can't the developers go outside Saudi Arabia and try North American publishers?

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      March 19, 2013 12:32 PM

      What the fuck?! It is so fucking annoying we have asshats like that in the industry who think they know what I want to play. What ever happened to challenging the player a little bit? But even then, having a female character isn't even a challenge... it's just normal. I don't get it. This pisses me off.

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      March 19, 2013 12:43 PM

      The game is being published by Capcom so finding a publisher doesn't seem to have been a problem. Saying publishers won't publish games with a female lead is also ridiculous given there are a great many games with female lead characters.

      If he has to drum up controversy to promote his game then it must be pretty bad.

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        March 19, 2013 1:24 PM

        I would assume he was turned down by other publishers because of the female lead character until Capcom picked it up. It still warrants a story, imo. Passing on publishing a game for that reason alone is ridiculous.

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          March 19, 2013 1:33 PM

          [deleted]

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          March 19, 2013 2:06 PM

          It's also not the first such story. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/120558/InDepth_No_Female_Heroes_At_Activision.php

          "Activision has no room for 'we are making an open-world game with a Hong Kong action movie feel with a female lead,' because that game doesn't exist right now," says one source. "What they do have room for is, 'we are making an open-world game with a gangster main character who can steal cars and shoot people, but it will be in Hong Kong instead of Liberty City. And then they go, 'Hey, GTA IV sold 10 million copies, so that's what we expect from you.'"

          Look to that methodology to explain why all of Activision's flagship properties are male-led, says the source: "If Activision does not see a female lead in the top five games that year, they will not have a female lead," says the other source. "And the people that don't want a female lead will look at games like Wet and Bayonetta and use them as 'statistics' to 'prove' that female leads don't move mass units."


          Ultimately, it comes down to money, sadly. They're pointing at almost the same statistics that the other publishers used to shoot down Remember Me, up until Capcom funded it.

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      March 19, 2013 4:52 PM

      Game publishers in it for the money! News at 11!

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      March 19, 2013 9:16 PM

      If I remember correctly, I thought I read somewhere that one of the things with this game was that there was no killing. Because the producer didn't like it or some such shit.. This is what turned me off to the game, not who the main character was.
      We play games to kill stuff because most normal peeps don't kill people in real life.

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      March 22, 2013 1:00 PM

      Yeah, Mirrors Edge and Portal 1/2 were flops.

      .. What year are we living in? Welcome to 2013 idiots..

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      March 23, 2013 9:15 AM

      'You can't make a dude like the player kiss another dude in the game, that's going to feel awkward.'

      I don't know about awkward... but it would have been better to have her kiss a girl ;)

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      March 24, 2013 8:32 AM

      Does it really matter? It's their choice, they're doing the publishing. Don't like it then don't publish with them. It's as simple as that.

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