Square Enix Was The Only One Who Didn’t Want To Change the Female Leads in Life Is Strange

During the first episode of “Life Is Strange” Developers’ Diary, Dontnod Co-Founder and Creative Director Jean-Maxime Moris reveals that Square Enix was basically the only publisher that didn’t want to change the female protagonists or any other thing in Life Is Strange.

[Relientk77]

Good, nothing's wrong with a female lead. Dontnod know what they're doing, Nilin was awesome in Remember Me.

[Bansai]

Don't like playing as women in games, probably cuuz of my gender insecurity xD, not buying.

[Godmars290]

Nothing wrong with female leads, but its when such becomes the only "successful" factor in a game. Like Remember Me being overall a flawed title in regards to mechanics and story, but then its only seen positively because of the female lead. Becomes a defensible example for feminist because its publisher didn't want the character, and male gamers apparently didn't buy it.

[ginganinja]

Maybe if there were more games that featured a female lead, the fact that a game has one wouldn't be notable.
And, if publishers are forcing devs to compromise there vision by taking the 'safe' option and pander to the traditional stereotype then it's not going to change soon.

[jambola]

"Like Remember Me being overall a flawed title in regards to mechanics and story, but then its only seen positively because of the female lead."
speak for yourself
iv'e never heard anyone but you claim that,

[Spotie]

They're in the business of making money, ginga. They're going to, by and large, go after the demographics that make them the most money. If that demographic prefers a male protagonist, guess what?

You love to play like it's an intentional exclusion of women, rather than a business decision.

[Godmars290]

@jambola:
You never heard that the main hook of the game, the memory rewrites, where both not in the game enough but only had one result? That the physical combat was repetitive and could have been developed further? The, what has become industry-typical, poor enemy AI?

@ginganinja:
Publishers have only been making devs compromise games in favor of the bottom line. From DRM and DLC to microtransactions and release dates that line up to market quarters.

As for more female characters, there have been. From Athena in the NES era to Valkyrie in Valkyrie Profile and the PS2. Sure there was the dip during the dude-bro 360/PS3, but then that was flawed overall.

[Somebody]

I was hooked by their early promotions of Remember Me- thousands of potential combos and exciting memory altering mechanics. Then they ruined it for me when they talked to much about how it was hard to introduce a female character to the gaming community. There was no need for them to use that angle because there was already enough buzz with game's mechanics.

They hooked me too with Life Is Strange's first trailer. It introduces the characters, the world and tone. It was intriguing and I was hoping they would keep it that way without talking about some agenda.

They even have to state a disclaimer: "stresses that their intention is not to make a political statement." Of course it's a political statement. Now, the other, conveniently unnamed devs that may or may not have requested the character change will be be put in a tight spotlight after this.

There was no need for them use this angle to promote their new game. Sell us a game, not a political view!

[NuggetsOfGod]

Lol compared to the super testosterone filled bad ass male characters we play as in games we are not even men lol.

Female lead. We need more of them!

[3-4-5]

I personally can't get into a game as much if the Main character is a female lead, but I'm not against them existing and being awesome in games.

* I'm all for more female Main characters in games, just don't make a generic useless female character...otherwise that wouldn't be any better than a generic useless male character.

* Not enough interesting Main characters in games both male & female.

Too much of the same....or if they are different, they usually TRY TOO HARD to be different, which ends up failing.

* This matters though:

* Is the character likeable ?

* Are they a good person ?

* Do I care about them ?

* Are they annoying ?

If they are likeable, I don't care if it's female or male.

[NuggetsOfGod]

Cool.. I just like fun games and good story.
Although I am a man I actually imagine being in the shoes of lara croft when I play as her.

People have tiny imagination these days.
Doesn't matter if it's man or woman we are all atoms, energy and spirit(life force).

Also game designers are getting more and more generic and boring.
Even the indies. I swear if I see another side scroller shooter revealed I will lose my mind!

[Ogygian]

Same here. A female lead isn't going to make or break my decision to buy a game, but it will subtly influence it, perhaps causing me to want to spend a little less on it.

This feeling, whether conscious or not (even if you think you don't take gender into account, you do; you just don't know it), is present in most human beings. Why else are female feminists the people most often asking for female characters?

The people clicking disagree on your comment (and imminently on my own) are people who are simply denying human nature, or worse, choosing to fight against it out of some naive belief (or of course out of ulterior motive).

As for the "games are boring people": putting a vagina on the main character is not going to all of a sudden make games vibrant and interesting. That requires fresh mechanics or a new art-style.

[ContinuePlay]

He actually said this last September at a press event (I was there). Odd that it's only just worked its way into the public domain.

[Amuro]

why were there other publishers telling Square what to do anyway?

[ginganinja]

Dontnod is just a developer. They need a publisher to get the game out into stores (and also provide funding).
So, as they're going round trying to get a publisher, some of those they saw suggested making those changes before they'd consider backing the game.

[SamPao]

Not square. Dotnot showed the game to different publishers and only square wanted to publish it without changes.

[theshredded]

square are getting awesome again

[ShinMaster]

Are they really?
Square has always had female protagonists. Even during their most hated period, they had Lightning and published the Tomb Raider games. Not much has changed when it comes to that.

[SMcNu715]

Bayonetta. Nuff said

[Viryu]

Remember Me was quite ok, the story and narration were ok. The problem laid in the fact in was a beat-em up hallway platformer, whereas one could guess from the reveal and trailers that there was something deeper to it, with some more freedom when it comes to roaming, stealth, etc.