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So once upon a time, I was in a meeting at a large publisher that shall remain nameless, and we were discussing the upcoming 3rd? 4th? entry in a major game franchise that shall remain nameless. (thread) https://twitter.com/DAJIRUHU/status/1285689553844678656
And someone brought up that we should have a playable female character in the release.
No, said the leads. Let's move on.
Hang on, said the lower-level designer (who, to be clear, was a guy!).
No, said the leads. Let's move on.
Hang on, said the lower-level designer (who, to be clear, was a guy!).
I had user research do some polling of our hardcore players, said the designer. And as it turns out, almost 100% of female players listed it as the #1 feature they want to see in the next release. And so did 75% of our male players.
All told, over 80% of our core customer group is saying this is the top thing they want to see in the next release.
It's not enough, said the marketing people. Moving on.
Hang on, I said. If 80% of our base said they wanted a purple grenade we'd drop everything to do it.
It's not enough, said the marketing people. Moving on.
Hang on, I said. If 80% of our base said they wanted a purple grenade we'd drop everything to do it.
That's different, said the marketing people. We don't want anyone thinking this is a girl game. (It was a gritty FPS.)
It's not that women don't play games.
It's that game companies are actively hostile to us. They want the market segmented--Real Games (TM) for men, and Casual Games for women--and work hard to keep it that way.
It's that game companies are actively hostile to us. They want the market segmented--Real Games (TM) for men, and Casual Games for women--and work hard to keep it that way.
