Hoo boy...
I'll just be over here respecting gaming's right to grow up and stop portraying most women as dolls for male amusement.
What does this even mean?
I totally do not understand this idea that "games" need to grow up.
Surely within the entire medium of games there is room for genres that are not "grown up" and also room for games with fanservice character designs?
It's somewhat childish in itself to not understand that there is room for all types of games to exist and that a couple of games that have hot women in them just being hot is hardly the scourge of the industry.
Fuck, how do you even look at the range of games available RIGHT NOW and not see that gaming has already "grown up".
Whatever the fuck that means anyway. Shit, even my lowly Commodore 64 had games with stories and themes and thoughtful design back in the late 80s and early 90s.
If sexy Lara Croft isn't profitable these days then, fair enough, devs might want to consider not going there.
What I'm not really understanding is what would be the problem if they did decide to go with Sexy Lara?
Do Horizon Zero Dawn or Uncharted Lost Legacy suddenly not exist because I developer went in a different direction?
Personally I believe that the new Tomb Raider games would have been better if they had stuck more to Lara Croft's roots and just ran with it. Everyone knows what Tomb Raider is and how it made itself a recognizable name and I think a sexualized campy Bayonetta-esque style would be more popular.
Of course it's funny that the efforts to make Lara Croft more "inclusive" they have basically turned her into Discount Nathan Drake.
If "growing up" means taking one of the most iconic, recognizable and bankable character designs (Lara Croft) and turning it into an inferior knockoff of an already bland and uninspired design (Nathan Drake) then why would we even want that?
The new Tomb Raider embraces mediocrity solely to avoid community backlash. It's sad.
Sure, they'll get their pats on the back for "growing up" with their philosophy on character design but is it really worth it?