Expect Female-Led Titles to Become the Norm
A new study indicates that female protagonists in video games are important to the majority of players, regardless of gender. This study comes out in a year where more female characters are showing up in major IPs. Such titles include Assassin’s Creed, Need for Speed, Uncharted, and Star Wars: Battlefront 2.
Data comes from a recent study held by game analytics firm Quandric Foundry, where 1,266 men and women participated. As detailed by the results and reported by Jstation X, 84.65% of respondents (men and women) agreed that females in video games are of some importance to them. If you want to move to the latter half of the table, 76.3% of women agreed that female protagonists are massively important while 33% of males agreed. Another 28% of the male group agreed that females are important while 25% declared no importance.
You can find the results of Quantic Foundry’s survey below:
Quantic Foundry co-founder Nick Yee explained that hardcore gamers found no in importance in gender. This is the case for both male and female demographics. Additionally, he believes there’s greater potential for financial gain when games include female protagonists. Previous data from the firm indicates that previously male-focused genres have found greater success through diversification. By including more characters more people can relate to, sales increase. Recent examples include Blizzard’s Overwatch and Guerrilla Games’ Horizon: Zero Dawn. You can probably even throw Platinum Games’ NieR: Automata into the mix.
Since the results are, more or less, substantiated by the success of certain IPs in 2017, we may see a shift to more female-led video games. Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty, the most popular shooter franchises, are making changes with more female characters in multiplayer. Already, it’s turning into the norm. But, let us know your own thoughts on this study by commenting down below.