A few days ago the cover for Naughty Dog’s survival game The Last of Us was released and soon after the studio was pressured into talking about the game’s multiplayer (people didn’t like that one bit). Following up on all that, the developers are now also forced into talking about the cover and why they chose to use it.
The cover in question sparked some discussion across the internet due to the fact that a 14 year old girl is in the forefront and the scruffy and capable man in the back. Most covers, such as the recently released Bioshock Infinite one, tend to have a male right in the view, often looking away from the camera or walking towards it. Don’t let me explain this to you, though, let Ellie’s voice actress do that:
“It’s all gamers really know – and I don’t want to be sexist by any means – but I get the feeling, generally, that they think games won’t sell as well with a woman on the cover, compared to some badass dude on the front,” she told VG247.
Creative Direction Neil Druckmann followed that statement up, by saying the following:
“I believe there’s a misconception that if you put a girl or a woman on the cover, the game will sell less. I know I’ve been in discussions where we’ve been asked to push Ellie to the back and everyone at Naughty Dog just flat-out refused.”
[Source]
