In the past couple of years, the gaming industry has seen a great deal of criticism on issues of representation and diversity within the medium. For an industry that is notoriously obsessed with selling games about white men gunning down enemies of varying shades of brown, it’s a valid concern. Games have grown to a billion dollar entertainment pillar and become a massive part of popular culture. With that recognition comes responsibility to fairly and accurately paint a picture of the outside world.
It hasn’t helped that when writers do tackle topics of representation, they are often decried or threatened for their worldview. While it’s fair to disagree with the comments of Anita Sarkeesian or Brianna Wu, the reaction to criticism should never be threats of personal and public violence — or even worse, a pseudo-political movement supporting said threats. But while watching this year’s E3 conferences (where gaming’s heavy hitters announced their latest and greatest) I noticed something tremendous. The industry isn’t listening to the monsters in the corner, shouting against “SJWs”. In fact, diversity in big budget gaming is booming.
Among all the titles featured on stage at the E3 2015 press conference, over 12 featured female playable characters. For the record, here’s the breakdown — Rise of the Tomb Raider, Recore, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Dishonored 2, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate and FIFA 16. They all featured female characters in a lead role during a trailer or gameplay demonstration at E3. That’s not even to mention the swaths of titles like Gears 4, Fallout 4, Halo 5: Guardians and Call of Duty: Black Ops III which featured female side characters in a heroic role.
This is a massive step up, even in comparison to just last year at E3. Of all the titles debuted or demonstrated on stage in 2014, only four featured female main characters (Rise of the Tomb Raider, Infamous: First Light, Bayonetta 2, and Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst). 2014 was also the year that brought us Assassin’s Creed Unity, which omitted playable female characters due to “the reality of production.”. Now just one year later, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is dedicating an entire trailer at PlayStation’s stage show to Evie Frye, a female assassin.
Even more impressive, some of the event’s biggest announcements this year centered around new games with diverse leads. Recore (from Keiji Inafune and the creators of Metroid Prime) follows a young woman venturing through the desert with a team of robots. FIFA 16‘s biggest new feature is the addition of Women’s national teams. Dishonored 2 centered its entire reveal on new assassin Emily Kaldwin, daughter of the first game’s protagonist. Horizon: Zero Dawn debuted with a post-apocalyptic female hunter taking down a robotic dinosaur. If that last image isn’t a perfect example of feminism expressed in the language of video games, nothing is. This industry isn’t just passively accepting representation, it’s doubling down on it.
The shift wasn’t just on screen, it could also be felt on stage. These E3 presentations are often infamous for being a constant parade of geeky dudes, occasionally broken up by a suave guy in a suit talking about numbers. But 2015? Microsoft’s entire conference opened with Bonnie Ross introducing Halo 5: Guardians. Indie developers of different nationalities and identities came out to sell their games, and none of it felt forced. At one point, Aisha Tyler and Angela Basset shared the stage to dish about Rainbow Six: Siege — Ubisoft’s biggest game of the year. That’s two women of color on stage at a Ubisoft press conference who weren’t dancing backup for a Just Dance promotion.
E3 2015 was loaded with the sort of quiet progress that often goes unnoticed, but deserves to be called out.
Now, let’s be clear. Gaming isn’t at a perfect 1:1 ratio with gender representation. Of the games you’re going to see on store shelves this year, most will be fronted by the same typical image of a rugged male action hero. We still have miles to go before all people who play video games feel equally connected to the people they see on the screen. But the progress is happening before our very eyes.