10 Upcoming Video Games That Are Already Controversial
3. Final Fantasy XVI
Final Fantasy XVI certainly looks like it's going to be a terrific entry into the franchise, but it's also a game that's received significant flak for its exclusive character demographics.
Many have repeatedly called out the game for featuring scarcely any non-white characters at all in the central land of Valisthea.
The game's producer, Naoki Yoshida, only dug a hole for himself when he suggested in an interview with IGN last year that the lack of racial diversity marked an attempt to represent a "realistic" depiction of a setting inspired by medieval Europe.
This didn't exactly do Yoshida or the game any favours, given that the Final Fantasy series has never been about realism, and this game's abundance of fantastical creatures are certainly less realistic than a Black man existing in a medieval European locale.
More to the point, people of colour did exist in medieval Europe.
Simply, it's tough to imagine any fans of the series having their immersion broken by the presence of non-white people, and so it's tough not to roll one's eyes at such a transparent non-answer from those in charge of the game.
Final Fantasy XVI will no doubt sell like gangbusters regardless, but is a little ethnic diversity really asking for much?