Sexists are already slamming Star Wars: Outlaws
The Star Wars franchise has always had strong women at its core, with Princess Leia, Padme Amidala, Ahsoka Tano, and Rey being just some of its female powerhouses. Sadly, this seems to rattle some misogynists as the issue spills over into the world of video games - go figure.
While we've come a long way from the days of a triangle-breasted Lara Croft, issues of sexism in gaming are still rife. You only have to look at the likes of Horizon and Forspoken being review bombed (although the latter was pretty rough) to see misogyny at work. Star Wars: Outlaws is another chapter in the book.
Star Wars: Outlaws panned for having a female protagonist
The promise of the first truly open-world Star Wars game should have everyone happy, but in typical fashion, players have an axe to grind. This time, it's because Outlaws has Kay Vess, as its lead. This "clever scoundrel in the galactic underworld" sounds like an exciting addition, but for some, only if she was a he.
After Outlaws was announced at the June 11 Xbox showcase, it didn't take long for the Twitterverse to be filled with some pretty ugly comments. "So I assume we can only play as her and can't choose my own character to play as, nice," grumbled one. Another added, "No lightsabers & no male protagonist? No thanks."
A third moaned, "Not saying I don’t like the female character in the trailer, but I hope there's an option to choose who you want to be, I hate being stuck as a specific character throughout a game," and a fourth said, "Do you have to play as the person in the trailer? If so I'm good"
There was plenty of support though. One rightly wrote, "Fragile egos are breaking over the Star Wars Outlaws protagonist being a woman, but no one had an issue with THREE male protagonists in GTA5? I hope they don't find out Kassandra is considered canon for AC Odyssey."
Others pointed out that we literally just had Star Wars Jedi: Survivor that locked us into playing as Cal Kestis. Someone concluded, "Imagine whining about being 'forced' to play as a woman in a star wars game when Jedi survivor came out 45 days ago."
Women in video games is still a problem in 2023
Click to enlargeAh, fragile masculinity. Unfortunately, we're seeing the issue with women rearing its head all too often these days. Look at how She-Hulk was panned for having a female lead. Closer to Star Wars, Moses Ingram got a tonne of hate for playing Reva in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Daisy Ridley also faced harsh critiques for Rey being the MVP of the sequel trilogy. There are all the usual accusations of Star Wars going woke and going broke, but to be honest, we saw it coming. We have to ask though, did these same people have a problem playing as Iden Versio in Star Wars Battlefront II?
