You know Ellie, that little girl wielding a gun on the front of Naughty Dog’s The Last Of Us box art? Yeah, the developer, when asked by important people to put her on the back of the box art in fears of losing sales, flat out refused. Is Ken Levine anywhere around? I think he needs to hear this conversation.
Speaking with VG247 in a recent interview, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann said they “flat out” refused to shove her on the back.
I agree with what Ashley said. I believe there’s a misconception that if you put a girl or a woman on the cover, the game will sell less. I know I’ve been in discussions where we’ve been asked to push Ellie to the back and everyone at Naughty Dog just flat-out refused.
Earlier in the same interview, Ashley Johnson, the actor who voices Ellie said earlier that she’s aware of the stigma.
I feel like they don’t put women on the covers because they’re afraid that it won’t sell. It’s all gamers really know – and I don’t want to be sexist by any means – but I get the feeling, generally, that they think game’s won’t sell as well with a woman on the cover, compared to some badass dude on the front.
After fans had seen the box art of The Last of Us and fell in love with it, Druckmann made known his elation on twitter:
So glad people like the box art. See, you can put the girl in the front!
So because Bioshock Infinite has box art people dont like, we have a new focus on it in the gaming community? Games that have women as the main character are few and far between,so perhaps that is why the games sell fewer copies.
Agreed, Benzo!
oh come on i thought we were past this stereotypical sexist BS!
she IS the game, shes the whole reason the game exists, without here the game would be about joel killing people and traveling across the country for the sake of it.
you cant not have her on the front cover!