Why game studios hesitate to include LGBTQ+ characters
Shaw says there's a lot of LGBTQ+ representation in video games from independent companies. "But getting big companies to take a chance on a title that's going to reach billions of people is very different," she said.
Concerns about backlash, including negative reviews and social media uproar, complicate things more. Studios may struggle to justify improving representation or not know how.
Life is Strange, developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix, benefited from Dontnod's origins as an independent game studio. This allowed them creative freedom to craft the desired story and characters, as explained by Michel Koch, the co-creator and art director, in an NPR interview.
"I feel like each time we start a new story or a new game, we are really trying to find and write the best characters for this story. To make sure that who they are is aligned with the themes of the story," said Koch.
As they were advancing in development, they started to need funding. So they started to meet with publishers.
"We got some feedback from some publisher that 'oh no, this won't sell. We cannot publish this game, even if it looks cool,'" Koch said. "And we found Square Enix who loved the project as it was. They didn't ask us to change anything... I would say that it was a lot of luck."
Koch says he hasn't seen any data like what GLAAD has released, and only knows the reactions Dontnod got after Life is Strange was released. There were players who loved it, and they also saw some who disliked it.
"We know that our core audience are very positive about the games we are making. But there is always this vocal minority that pushes very strongly to say this game is too woke," he said. "We should make sure that we are not listening too much to the vocal minorities."
Koch says he also knows that video games are a business particularly the risk of game bans in certain international markets if certain scenes are included.
"If we were to release the game in Russia, for example, we wouldn't have been able to include this romance, this arc. And Square Enix ... they accepted that we didn't release the game in Russia at all, which meant that we could keep the game the way we wanted [it] to be," Koch said.
But Koch says he could see some bigger games or other companies that don't want to miss out on a market like Russia. And they may end up removing those storylines or characters because it wouldn't be allowed to be published in that country.
How can game studios improve representation?
Marra says it's important to be able to put a stake in the ground and measure how much representation is currently available in all forms of media, so the number can start to be moved up to where it should be.
Shaw thinks the report shows "a really strong case you can take to your executives or take to your team and say 'hey, we have good numbers and a good reason to increase this representation.'"
The GLAAD report, making it clear that LGBTQ+ gamers prefer games with LGBTQ+ content, provided recommendations for the industry and developers. They suggest having a proportionate representation of LGBTQ+ characters in games, making gaming communities more inclusive, consulting LGBTQ+ media experts like GLAAD and hiring LGBTQ+ individuals for leadership roles in the gaming industry.