The developers of Escape from Tarkov talk about why there are so few women in the game. First, there was a statement from which they distanced themselves. Now there is a new reason.
What happened? Battlestate Games, the developers of the shooter Escape from Tarkov, released a new statement about why there are so few female characters in the game and why players cannot play as them.
This follows after a statement was made back in 2016. At that time, a representative of the game said in an interview with Wccftech that they considered including women as playable characters. ” … but we concluded that women cannot handle so much stress. There is only room for hardened men here.”
Following the new hype around the hardcore shooter, this statement was brought back to light by players. They confronted the developers on Twitter about it. Battlestate Games has now released a new statement on January 6.
This is what they say about the old statement: On Twitter, the account of the development studio first addresses the statement from 2016 and distances itself from the old statement:
The answers were not provided by a core staff member of Battlestate Games. They were likely misinterpreted and consequently do not reflect the official position of the company, that we have always respected women in wars and in the military.
The employee was reprimanded, and Battlestate Games apologizes for the confusion caused, it further states on Twitter.
This is the new statement: Regarding the point of why there are no women in EfT, they write:
“And to finally clarify the question about women in EfT. Firstly: There are already some women in EfT (traders, some upcoming important storyline quests will have women as main characters).
But there will be no playable female characters due to the lore of the game and – more importantly – due to the enormous workload associated with animations, equipment customization, etc.”
Criticism of the new explanation
This is the feedback the statement received: On Twitter, some users are dissatisfied with the response given by the development team. They say it is sexist and does not belong in the year 2020.
On Twitter, Delaney King writes that she has over 20 years of experience as a character artist in various games like Unreal Tournament 2004, Civilization IV, and Dragon Age Origins. She says, “When someone says, ‘We won’t add girls to our game because it’s too costly,’ that is wrong.” She states:
- the most expensive would be the voice acting
- belts, bulletproof vests, gloves, etc. will be changed – you don’t have to start from scratch
- Even heads and bodies can be “remodeled” – it only takes a little time to adjust these to new models
- Retexturing a male model into a female model is not a job that takes days. That can be done in minutes or hours
The thread on Twitter goes much deeper and explains processes involved in animating models. In summary, Delaney King writes:
- It doesn’t cost much to add women.
- Your market would more than double as a result.
- You are the problem.
What do you think of the developers’ statement?
