Fine, muscular or with exaggerated curves. Human bodies have become an unbeatable argument for marketing and, by this terrain, the video game is no exception. Since the beginning of the games, advertisers have tried multiple strategies, sometimes organizing bodies, often sexualized.
The objective of the bodies, the perpetuation of gender stereotypes or the origin of many physical complexes, hypersexualization can alter in many aspects. But this type of communication often finds his audience, for 50 years, Reek has GTA 6.
Video games for families
When talking about video games, a stubborn trend often combines the field with young men. “It is a completely false belief that dates from the 1970s,” he immediately denies Jennifer Lufau, president of the Afrogameuse association who campaigns for greater diversity in the world of video games.
Then we must be interested in the evolution of the target heart of the video game. Jennifer Lufau explains that the stuttering of games in the 1970s, the target audience of companies in the sector were families at that time. Games like Reek They were destined to be played in a living room console, by all, regardless of their age or gender.
The evolution was made later. “Low games in quality, which wanted to be competitors of ReekHe couldn’t sell himself. We feared a video game market accident because the games were no longer sold. “Says Jennifer Lufau. Therefore, a market study was conducted: she deduced that young people played more than the rest of the population. The latter became the privileged objectives of advertisers.
“Gameboy” of Nintendo
This tendency to believe that the audience of the video game was extended mainly to men quickly. Therefore, it was common to cross the video game department in the “Boys” space of a toy store.
This appropriation will influence the name of certain products. Jennifer Lufau likes to take, for example, Gameboy, launched in 1989. The target audience appears only in his name (which literally translates into “Boy Game”). At the same time, certain ads for the console or video games do not hesitate to organize naked women, often without much relationship with the product itself.
Was these communication campaigns effective? Nothing shows that this was the case according to the two experts. “This is an asset, but does not guarantee that the game is popular,” says Jennifer Lufau. The best sales games at that time were Ducks, Super Mario World and the classic TetrisGames that have not used hypersexualized ads.
In addition, a great inconvenience leads this type of marketing: omits 50% of the population. Then, the advertisers underestimated the part of women who played video games. The most convincing example will be Nintendo, which will reveal in 1995 that 46% of Gameboy owners are actually women.
However, this tendency to marketing will continue in the 90s, until a well -known heroine made its appearance.
Protagonists in the center of hypersexualization
1996 is the year that Lara Croft arrived in PlayStation. The hero of Rider It has become the archetype of the hypersexualization of women in video games with their unrealistic figure.
However, the archaeologist marks a turning point in video game marketing. With the appearance of 3D, it is the turn of the characters to be hypersexualized to sell a game. In this sense, some characters are emblematic such as Bayonetta or Franchise figures Tekken. More recently, the game Star blade He had created a controversy around his eve of heroine.
Regarding Lara Croft, Jennifer Lufau argues that she “was created by men for men’s eyes.” “Now, when we offer another representation of the woman, it can frustrate certain players while in real life, the characters with such forms would unravel the hips,” he joked.
Video games are also like their industry. Women’s figures in France’s games confirm this: women represent only 24 % of video game workers in 2023. A figure that was even reduced to 20 %, depending on the 2024 edition of the video game barometer produced by the SNJV.
According to a CSA survey dating from 2022, 79% of women find that female characters in video games do not represent all women.
In 2014, Gamergate’s episode, a sexist harassment campaign aimed at players and developers, bothered the sector. The players community has broken down between conservatives and progressive. Since then, video game marketing constantly walks on eggs.
A hypersexualization that partially remains
Despite the impact of Gamergate, the video game now enjoys greater diversity. The television ads where we see people who play video games find a quasi-evaluation: 55% of the actors are women according to an arc report dating from 2023.
At the same time, the use of hypersexualization is no longer as common as before in video game marketing. But these practices remain, especially on the Internet and for a very special objective heart: “Men between 25 and 40 years,” confirms Morgane Falaize. The communications expert takes the example of Lost arkA South Korean role play that does not give a great diversity to women’s bodies and whose target audience is the middle -aged man.
However, this tendency to sexualization of women is still very present in mobile games. Game ads like Heroes wars, Mafia City EITHER MENSHIN IMPACT They are the most widespread representations on the web. It is the same for famous titles as Marvel rivals.
The GTA case
The debate on the representation of women logically refers to the most anticipated game of the coming months: GTA 6. The trailer is quite ambiguous and spares in the assets of the seduction of its two main characters. In some plans, we can see Lucia with tight outfit, in other plans, Jason is in the middle of a bodybuilding session.
For Jennifer Lufau, the hypersexualization of the protagonists of GTA 6 It is a bias that is difficult to criticize: “The license GTAIt is a satire of Western societies, somewhere, Rockstar denounces certain referrals there. GTA It offers a fairly diversified representation where all are criminals, but the elections of representation they make participate in the strengthening of stereotypes and support for beauty standards for women and men. “
Source: BFM TV
