Ellie's Popularity in The Last of Us "Says a lot About Whether Games With a Female Protagonist Sell"

Out of everything that Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley of Naughty Dog talked about in their giant AMA, they didn’t add any new comments when it came to the initial sales for The Last of Us. - PSLS

[iamnsuperman]

"Also, how popular Ellie ended up being says a lot about whether games can sell with a female protagonist."

I think it is less about her being female and more about her being likeable. She was a strong character. Games with weak characters, regardless of sex, do not sell well. We need to break the boundaries of gender in gaming. It doesn't matter. Just make the strong and likeable.

[HammadTheBeast]

My response is, the generic character in Remember Me, and it's sales also says a lot about whether games with a female protagonist sell.

It means that it doesn't really matter, games like Tomb Raider and TLOU show that regardless of gender, well rounded characters sell games.

[Benjammin25]

Couldn't agree more. Heather from Silent Hill 3 is one of my favourite game characters ever and it's not because she's a girl. It's because she's very cool with an awesome sense of humour.

[RedHawkX]

ellie will bust a cap in yo ars if you dont buy the game thats why it sells so good.

[Cernunnos]

The new Tomb Raider sold incredibly well aswell.

[dbjj12088]

I don't think I've ever *not* bought a game just because it has a female character, but I can tell you I've *not* bought games because all it was was female characters shopping or riding horses because "that's all females want."

I think men and women can find common ground in lots of gameplay, no matter who the character is. My Shepard was a female.

[slimeybrainboy]

I like watching peoples playthroughs of the game to see their reactions to the plot points. I've seen men (frankieonpc), women (yogscast hannah), and both (jackfrags and his girlfriend) playthroughs of the game. They react to the characters on such a common ground, they all take on the role of Joel protecting Ellie, regardless of gender. Everyone is so connected with Ellie in the same way. I think it boils down to the way Joel's relationship with Ellie is a completely romance-less, and the pure charm of Ellie.

[slimeybrainboy]

SPOILERS, get out of town if you haven't played the game yet.

I think it's open for debate, but I don't think Ellie can be considered the protagonist. I know we ended as Ellie, and the developers have said this game is 'almost the origins story of Ellie', but yet still I feel The Last of Us (1?) is the story of Ellie's effect on Joel.

At the end of the game I wasn't feeling confusion from Ellie's perspective, I was feeling an incredible amount of guilt from Joel's perspective.

As much as I adore Ellie, I don't think The Last of Us can be called a triumph for female protagonists. It wasn't marketed as one, for the majority it wasn't played as one, and it didn't feel like one. This is just based on my opinion, and my interpretation of the word protagonist to mean 'main character'. Although I do believe Ellie to be the most important character in the story, I think it's still open for debate considering the unique nature of games.

[Run_bare]

I don't think I can't judge from point of view of male. Saying that,she survive with conviction, it's Joel that is the weakest as he has to lie at the end.

[cyguration]

You're absolutely correct.

Ellie was, in The Last of Us, equivalent to that annoying girl from Resident Evil 4 (in terms of protagonist and deuteraganist).

Ellie was a strong supporting character but not the main character -- the main character, as you mentioned, was Joel.

The story, however, was all about Ellie's impact on Joel and how she affected his character from his perspective (and subsequently, the player's).

This article jumps the gun in assuming that Ellie's strong supporting role is somehow indicative of selling power, when in fact, Joel was still the one players were controlling throughout most the game.

They'll have to wait until the next ND game with a well-told story with an actual female lead to toss up an article like this.

[-Mika-]

This game did not sell because of ellie.

[saywat247]

wtf do you mean it did not sell, this is the top game right now, i'd call you sexist but judging from your name im guessing you're a girl.

[ShwankyShpanky]

edit: n/m

[evenstar]

She wasn't saying that TLoU didn't sell... she was saying that Ellie wasn't the primary reason for the massive sales of this game

[-Gespenst-]

No, Mika's right. He /She doesn't mean to say that the game "didn't sell", he/ she means to say that Ellie wasn't the reason the game sold so well. Or in other words, people didn't decide to buy the game based on her featuring in it.

Plus, Ellie isn't even the protagonist. Nevertheless, if she worked as a central female character and the game sold it's only because ND did a good job creating her, not because videogames have done well in the past tackling similar issues. Maybe from now on we'll start stronger female characters and roles in games.

Of course games with a strong female character can sell - It's sort of weird that they'd even put that in question form - people just need to have more respect for such characters is all. Just maybe ND have helped to foster such respect.

Still, she is counterbalanced (perhaps with a certain impartiality) by a big butch white texan, so I don't know...

[saywat247]

i love ellie shes a little deadly munchkin, reminds me of ellen page...minus the deadly part. but ashley johnson did an amazing job with her!!!!

[Dan_scruggs]

SPOILERS...

Probably not the best idea to use Ellie as a example of a female protagonist selling a game when you play as Joel (ahem... a man) for 90% of the game and she literally sleeps through the climax of her own story.

[wishingW3L]

I only bought the game because Naughty Dogs made it and I ended up liking it a lot. lol

[Williamson]

She easily became one of my favorite characters, would suck if we never see her in a game again.

[Smashbro29]

She doesn't really do anything gameplay wise from what I understand so... whatever.

[ShwankyShpanky]

Well thanks anyway for commenting on a game you obviously haven't played, or even bothered finding out about.

[Smashbro29]

I watched someone on twitch for a bit and saw a review.

I also said "from what I understand" so if I didn't understand correctly I am open to correction.

[GraveLord]

You play as Ellie, on multiple occassions and she always just some weak tag-along when you play as Joel. Looks can be deceiving. Play the game before making statements like this.

[evenstar]

Play the game before you start running your mouth on here.. I have had her save my ass in gameplay.. throw a brick, knife somebody, and in my most recent playthrough she jumped on somebody and choked them out... She warns you when people are coming up in your blind spots.. shall I go on? Play the damn game.

[Smashbro29]

Do you guys not understand that I said "from what I understand" which means I do not know for certain but this is what I heard?

[dafegamer]

/facepalm

great example of failed trolling attempt

[jek7]

@smash i don't think you should really voice out your opinion on something you don't know anything about.

[chrissx]

I'm counting on ND to make more great new IPS like this in the future. TLOU would have still sold well irrespective of the sex of the lead characters. the writing and character development was spot on.

[LordDhampire]

I won't play a game with a female protagonist, just can't get into it....I can play one with both tho

[GraveLord]

That's.....stupid.

Do you watch movies with female leads?

[MidnytRain]

I disagree with LordDhampire, too, but games and movies totally aren't the same thing, ha.

[GraveLord]

Would be great if Ellie was the lead character in The Last Of Us 2 as long as the story is strong enough to support her. I think Tomb Raider proved it can be done.