Gamer Girl Trailer, and Potentially Game, Pulled by PlayStation
Yesterday while scrolling through the various video game news releases and Twitter stream, I saw a trailer for a new game Gamer Girl. In the quick snippet I caught as I scrolled past, it depicted a full-motion video (FMV) game that looked creepy. Creepy in the sense of blatantly objectifying women. As a female gamer, I have, sadly, come to expect such things, so after a brief eye roll, I continued my scrolling.
However, if you try to find the trailer today, it is gone. PlayStation pulled the trailer. I posted a repost of the trailer from a different source below. This made me want to give this game a second look. As mentioned, it is an FMV game, which followed the antics of a video game streaming woman called Abicake99. The player is a moderator of Abicake99’s stream feed and becomes her confidant throughout the game. As the player becomes more embroiled in the drama of Abicake99’s life, the story begins to shift towards the horror genre. Although not too much is given away in the trailer, the game press release compared it to found footage movies, such as The Blair Witch Project, so I am willing to bet that the outcome for Abicake99 is not great.
My first instinct was to completely dismiss this game. The clip of the video included many cleavage shots, one-dimensional female stereotypes, and portrays males objectifying the female gamer. Objectification of female gamers has been somewhat normalized in society and is both not helping female gamers, nor necessarily a fair representation of all gaming communities. I suspect that this is why the trailer, and potentially the game, was pulled. But was this the right move?
I do not want to touch the thorny topic of cancel culture with a ten-foot pole. This is not what this is about. My question is whether the game itself actually has merit. There is potential for this game to have been a nuanced look at sexism in the gaming industry and seriously question our role as moderators in the online environment. Given the lack of diversity in Wales Interactive, the company that created the game, I wouldn’t bet on that. But that assumption says more about my own personal bias and experience than the potential of the development team.
Either way, the game is an example of poor video game marketing. Even if it is just a shallow one-dimensional caricature of female gamers, I think I would have been more receptive to the game if it marketed itself around the horror found footage element of the game. I honestly find that genre fun. I can’t help but wonder if there was a more diverse team at Wales Interactive if the trailer would have better targeted their market. I am curious if the game was dropped, or if we can expect to see a new trailer released. What do you think of this game? Were you excited to see it released, or just glad it disappeared? Tell us in the comments below.