Escape From Tarkov will not feature female playable characters for "lore reasons" and a lack of animations

[LewieP]

Full comment here.

Didn't we have this dance six years ago with Ubisoft saying women are too hard to animate so they couldn't let you play as women in Assassin's Creed. Until there was a backlash and then suddenly women were not too hard to animate.

I think it's kind of a dumb decision to not let you play as a woman in games with customisable characters, but even if the technical barriers were too large (which I doubt), the excuse of "it's too much work" feels like it's not really going to satisfy anyone.

Also feels like maybe they should have marketing staff that have paid attention to any of the discourse around games and gender from the last decade.

 

[ChippyTurtle]

are they AAA, AA or A? Gotta be reasonable. Though if i were them, i would have female characters so you can sell cosmetics more.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

What the fuck? Why are they repeating their same shitty stance? They had this damn near exact comment over a year ago, which is why when a friend tried to convince me to buy the game, I opted out.

Yeah, back in 2016. Not exactly the same like I thought, but fuck ever giving them a dime:

Did you consider having female characters playable?
We considered that, but we came to the conclusion that women are not allowed to be in the war.

But these days, women are in the military...
I can agree with you and we discussed it for a very long time, but we came to the conclusion that women can't handle that amount of stress. There's only place for hardened men in this place.

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[Skittles]

Gotta make sure their animations are as sexualized as possible

 

[TheInfinityGauntlet]

Step 1) get the attention for not doing thing

Step 2) see how high demand is

Step 3) unveil the thing you definitely weren't going to do that you definitely didn't already have done

Outrage marketing is the new wave

 

[LewieP]

are they AAA, AA or A? Gotta be reasonable. Though if i were them, i would have female characters so you can sell cosmetics more.

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I kind of think that whatever their budget is, it wouldn't cost anything to say "We haven't got female playable characters in right now, but it's something we'll think about for the future".

 

[PowerThroughLov]

it is an entirely new animation set across all actions. That isn't no work. Whether it's too much is up for debate, but their is additional work required.

 

[ILikeFeet]

just admit that you're misogynistic

 

[Finale Fireworker]

This is the same developer that said women can't handle the horrors of war, right?

 

[Cian]

What exactly are these lore reasons? Thankfully, in an interview back in 2016 they elaborated.

https://wccftech.com/escape-tarkov-interview-truly-hardcore-first-person-shooter/

"Did you consider having female characters playable?

We considered that, but we came to the conclusion that women are not allowed to be in the war.

But these days, women are in the military...

I can agree with you and we discussed it for a very long time, but we came to the conclusion that women can't handle that amount of stress. There's only place for hardened men in this place"

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It's been six years since Ubisoft said that it was too hard to animate women assassins, and we're still hearing statements like this. Why are women so problematic to rig?

Spoiler

They're not.

 

[LewieP]

it is an entirely new animation set across all actions. That isn't no work. Whether it's too much is up for debate, but their is additional work required.

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So is animating male characters.

 

[Lant_War]

What the fuck? Why are they repeating their same shitty stance? They had this damn near exact comment over a year ago, which is why when a friend tried to convince me to buy the game, I opted out.

Yeah, fuck every giving them a dime:

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What? Is that comment from an actual developer?

 

[hanshen]

are they AAA, AA or A? Gotta be reasonable. Though if i were them, i would have female characters so you can sell cosmetics more.

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Could have just said budget issue instead of "game lore", whatever that is.

 

[ChippyTurtle]

What the fuck? Why are they repeating their same shitty stance? They had this damn near exact comment over a year ago, which is why when a friend tried to convince me to buy the game, I opted out.

Yeah, back in 2016. Not exactly the same like I thought, but fuck ever giving them a dime:

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Well that is some BS.

 

[ASyS_Razia]

it is an entirely new animation set across all actions. That isn't no work. Whether it's too much is up for debate, but their is additional work required.

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Pretty much this, we need to take in consideration the size of the studio and the number of people working on it. That said, they could have use other aproach to the subject, something in the line of "We will try to implement female characters in the future" or so.

 

[Mirk]

Well we has seen this dance before. Based on their ability to update the game I am calling women playable characters within 2 years.

 

[808s & Villainy]

What the fuck? Why are they repeating their same shitty stance? They had this damn near exact comment over a year ago, which is why when a friend tried to convince me to buy the game, I opted out.

Yeah, back in 2016. Not exactly the same like I thought, but fuck ever giving them a dime:

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Holy shit, I thought those responses were parodies, but the dev literally said these things. In 2016. Shit

 

[sibarraz]

Are not this devs well known assholes?

 

[Jessie]

Thank you for your time.

This interviewer got the fuck out after that bit lmao.

 

[BadWolf]

Do you even need the animations to be all that different for a female character?

Look at how MGSV handled it, you have both male and female playable characters sharing Venom's excellent animation and it works fine.

These are combat ready women, they aren't going to move all that differently unless you intentionally make the animations "girly".

 

[Evolved1]

I generally prefer playing as women in games, but it IS a lot of work to implement it. It does require custom animation and fitting, and it's ignorant to imply otherwise. That said, I generally gravitate toward games / devs who think it's important enough to put in the work.

Instead of criticism that implies it's trivial to implement the animation, etc (which is wrong) base criticism on the fact certain devs just don't think it's important enough or worth their time.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

The interview came with a picture of the dev

 

[KOfLegend]

I feel like I'm back in 2014.

 

[MistahS]

The interview came with a picture of the dev

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Wamenz can't kill fitty men!!!

 

[exodus]

I feel like I'm back in 1914.

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Yep.

 

[Hella]

It's so much worse than the OP because of this inerview, back in 2016:

What the fuck? Why are they repeating their same shitty stance? They had this damn near exact comment over a year ago, which is why when a friend tried to convince me to buy the game, I opted out.

Yeah, back in 2016. Not exactly the same like I thought, but fuck ever giving them a dime:

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They're hardcore misogynists.

 

[Jakisthe]

Apparently the "women can't handle it" quote was disavowed by the devs? Not that that's all of it, but that part at least is something they've tried to distance themselves from.

 

[Papercuts]

It was silly when Ubi said it because they're huge, but either way they totally lost me here when they tied it into the lore. Like. What the hell is that, lol.

 

[Kinthey]

What the fuck? Why are they repeating their same shitty stance? They had this damn near exact comment over a year ago, which is why when a friend tried to convince me to buy the game, I opted out.

Yeah, back in 2016. Not exactly the same like I thought, but fuck ever giving them a dime:

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They also gave a response to that

 

[Sagadego17]

just admit that you're misogynistic

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edit: wait this a old interview?

 

[Gold Arsene]

What different animations would they need that are so difficult?

 

[Mobyduck]

I'm curious, what lore reason is there for women to not be present?

 

[DSync]

"Did you consider having female characters playable?

We considered that, but we came to the conclusion that women are not allowed to be in the war.

But these days, women are in the military...

I can agree with you and we discussed it for a very long time, but we came to the conclusion that women can't handle that amount of stress. There's only place for hardened men in this place"

lol get fucked devs

what a shitty pathetic view

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Totally understand. Women have more frames in real life too.

 

[CenturionNami]

I could understand the financial aspect of the undertaking (make two entire sets of animations for everything and outfits for both genders) but WTF does he mean by lore reasons?!

 

[packy17]

What the fuck? Why are they repeating their same shitty stance? They had this damn near exact comment over a year ago, which is why when a friend tried to convince me to buy the game, I opted out.

Yeah, back in 2016. Not exactly the same like I thought, but fuck ever giving them a dime:

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Look, the reason BSG is even tweeting about this today is because you guys keep posting this old interview from 2016. It was one member of the studio who said these things, and he was disciplined for it:



The studio head also went on reddit earlier today to give his personal thoughts on this:



The game and the entire studio do not deserve to be thrown under the bus for this trash.

 

[CenturionNami]

Apparently the creator is denying he ever said that.

 

[JustJavi]

Boom!

 

[Deleted member 13560]

It must cost a fortune for fighting games to have to animate all the females on their rosters. I can't even fathom how much Dead or Alive must cost.

 

[skeezx]

normally i give benefit of a doubt with this kind of stuff but these guys have rubbed me the wrong way for years now. every time i'm about to pull the trigger on this game my conscious just goes nope nope nope

 

[Common Knowledge]

It's a lot of work adding that sultry hip sway and military gear that exposes the good spots, you know?

 

[Crossing Eden]

What the fuck? Why are they repeating their same shitty stance? They had this damn near exact comment over a year ago, which is why when a friend tried to convince me to buy the game, I opted out.

Yeah, back in 2016. Not exactly the same like I thought, but fuck ever giving them a dime:

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The fuck?!!

EDIT:Ohhh so some lone dev.

 

[Deleted member 13560]

Apparently the creator is denying he ever said that.

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Also the article that's linked is from wccftech and they are not the most reliable source for anything. It still boggles my mind that this forum allows articles from that website.

By the way I'm not saying the guy didn't say it. I'm saying that I'd feel better if there was another source.

 

[Kaah]

It's been six years since Ubisoft said that it was too hard to animate women assassins, and we're still hearing statements like this. Why are women so problematic to rig?

Spoiler

They're not.

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Ok, I don't understand that tweet. Of course adding new animations, new character models and the amount of work in things like gear fitting for different body type can take a lot of time (= money). Recently the FFXIV dev team faced the same issue, are we supposed to punch them in the face too ?

 

[Deleted member 18944]

Also the article that's linked is from wccftech and they are not the most reliable source for anything. It's still boggles my mind that this forum allows articles from that website.

By the way I'm not saying the guy didn't say it. I'm saying that I'd feel better if there was another source.

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Could you provide your own sources / evidence to backup that claim? I do not immediately see anything via google that the site is unreliable, just that they write rumors and are sometimes right, sometimes wrong.

Not to mention that the article in question implies the interview as recorded.

 

[Ra]

Also the article that's linked is from wccftech and they are not the most reliable source for anything. It's still boggles my mind that this forum allows articles from that website.

By the way I'm not saying the guy didn't say it. I'm saying that I'd feel better if there was another source.

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I completely agree about the willy nilly posting of WCCFTech articles, when it comes to their throw shit at a wall tech insider posting style, but in this case they have literally called it a transcript of an interview, so the dev calling it fake is quite the accusation.

I'd really like to get a comment from the site on the developer saying they never made that statement, because if they made that up, oh boy...

But again, citing it as a transcript of an interview implies a lot of credibility.

 

[mrqs]

Dear God what a mess. Fuck them.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Look, the reason BSG is even tweeting about this today is because you guys keep posting this old interview from 2016. It was one member of the studio who said these things, and he was disciplined for it:



The studio head also went on reddit earlier today to give his personal thoughts on this:

The game and the entire studio do not deserve to be thrown under the bus for this trash.

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Nikita's response has been shit. "I didn't say that!" Someone on the team important enough to be showing the whole game off at Gamescon said it. That's....better? The Battlestate Games response is a better apology than much of what Nikita has offered.

However, Battlestate Games in general has been shit:

Escape From Tarkov team barrages YouTuber with DMCA takedowns over `misinformation`

Battlestate Games, developers of the multiplayer tactical shooter Escape From Tarkov, have issued nearly 50 Digital Millennium Copyright Copyright Act (DMCA) claims against a YouTuber with the handle "Eroktic." Rather than citing piracy or unfair use of content for monetization, Battlestate tells Polygon those claims were made because of incorrect information and overall negativity about their game.


Reached for comment, Battlestate said it had no other choice than to issue DMCA claims, which could result in serious legal issues for Eroktic up to and including the removal of his channel from YouTube. The law, which is broadly written, tends to support these kinds of actions by game developers.


The confrontation between Battlestate and Eroktic stems from what the developer says was a pair of inaccurate video claiming that user information, including passwords and personal information, had been leaked from the company databases. Battlestate claims the misinformation was damaging to the company, and had to be dealt with quickly.

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What's really fucked up is that multiple players were posting on Battlestate Games' twitter supporting the claim that there had been a data breach, but Battlestate continued to deny it...even after people were coughing up proof of compromised accounts and charges.





"There was no breach...but if there was, your personal accounts is on you."

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Totally understand. Women have more frames in real life too.

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Adding boob physics doubles the size of your dev team, it's just science.

 

[seady]

What the fuck? Why are they repeating their same shitty stance? They had this damn near exact comment over a year ago, which is why when a friend tried to convince me to buy the game, I opted out.

Yeah, back in 2016. Not exactly the same like I thought, but fuck ever giving them a dime:

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I was going to say any developer/artist have the freedom to design and create whatever they want or don't want (without directly hurting anyone of coz), but if this is what they said then oh geez.... SMH...