7 Times The Gaming Industry Fell To Lust
Some Dirty Secrets Laid Bare...
"Sex. sells." It's one of the most common advertising phrases you'll see chucked around, and while the adage might be better expressed as "sexual appeal sells" it's true that exposed flesh, fantasies and full frontal rude-ity often entwine themselves with nearly every product that a company wants to sell you; from telling you that a prospective partner will find you more attractive if you own this, to making you feel more confident about yourself, sex is a marketing tool and of course it's gone hand in hand with video games almost since they were conceived.
And as I detailed in a previous list of times the gaming industry gave in to greed, Lust plays a vital part in its day to day operations. Art design is informed by fanbase fantasies, marketing campaigns draw money from bulging wallets, and all manner of genitalia is blown out of proportion in order to catch the eyes of the passing crowd.
And as a result it's led to some developers, publishers, players losing the plot and thinking with their privates. So let's have take a look at which gaming moments pull an O-face in surprise or disgust as I’m Jules, this is WhatCulture.com and these are 7 Times The Gaming Industry Gave In To Lust
And no i'm not being a prude with this list, it's meant to be tongue in ass cheek after all, but there are some examples that I'll detail that are a little rich for my blood.
7. The Hitman: Absolution Trailer
While this trailer is not alone in using sexual overtones in advertising or marketing to sell units, it perhaps stands out as one of the most tone deaf moments for the franchise. Wanting to prove that the revitalised Hitman Absolution was going to be the game to watch in 2012, Square Enix pulled out all the stops and dropped a full CG trailer to capture the world's attention. And it did, but for a lot of the wrong reasons.
Now as an action short this is still a very powerful piece of media, showcasing Agent 47 battered and bruised but having to continue his deadly line of work, we see him with a newly removed barcode stating loudly to the audience that he was done with his handlers and their shady practices, and the choreography with the new gang that was attacking him was really well directed.
However, why the hell were these nuns with guns made to be so blatantly sexy? It served zero point to the narrative and was so bluntly trying to sell itself with sex appeal that some fans laughed this off as the series jumping the shark in a desperate attempt to capture that key teenage demographic. Things only got worse when the game dropped and it became clear that their involvement with the story boiled down to one mission and never explained why they chose to wear outfits that could only have hindered their combat potential.
From a casual perspective, it's like the Warriors and I'm cool with themed gangs, but the sheer thirst on display here from SE? Well I was having nun of it.