CD Projekt says companies will use booth babes as long as a receptive audience exists.
CD Projekt hasn’t shied away from sexual content in either of the Witcher games, but CEO, Marcin Iwinski, argues there’s a big difference between using sex to tell a story and using it to sell a product.
“I think, at the end of the day, it’s all about making a great story. We’re not using things like sex for cheap tricks and draw some male audience to that,” he told Rock Paper Shotgun. “That’d totally make no sense.”
This year’s E3 has been heavily criticized for its sexualized content, both in the games on display and on the show floor in the form of booth babes.
“I think it will always happen as long as a part of your audience is male,” said Iwinski. “The cheapest trick is to grab a fancy car and put a booth babe next to it. So yes, it’s there. I don’t think having a presentation where it’s a major part of a game is necessarily a problem. It makes sense, because the game is defending itself. So it’s just a part of the world. Some people will overuse it. Others won’t.”
Iwinski argues that developers should have the right to present game worlds as they see fit, and with as much sexual content as their stories require. He believes the gaming public – which is becoming more rounded and diverse if the vitriolic responses to the trailers for Hitman: Absolution and Tomb Raider are anything to go by – will discourage developers and publishers from using sex and sexualized content irresponsibly.
“Yes, it could alienate audiences,” he said. “But you have to look at it from the quality of the product perspective. If it’s overused [in marketing], it probably won’t be a big product anyway. Really, I think the market is eliminating all the weaknesses and all the cheap tricks.”
He did however, add that hormonally-driven trailers will be around as long as there are hormonally-driven gamers.
“But, at the end of the day, males are making certain decisions through hormones,” he said. “People are paid to take care of the market and know it very well. Am I offended in some of these cases? Sure. And when people don’t do [these sorts of things] well, it’s obvious and there’s a lot of criticism around it. But you really have to look at it on a product-by-product basis. And then it really depends on somebody’s taste. “
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
