This is just how i see it and sorry its so long, but i really do feel like eroticism and sexualization don't have much of an impact on a games success or popularity (and they're both different things imo, bulky guys are stereotyped/sexualized as well) Ive heard people saying its the reason doa was never respected and scared players away from taking it seriously, but considering other games (even if not as extreme) are adding bikini dlc and jiggle physics to their games and no one chastises them, its just being hypocritical. And on the matter of ''they were respectable games from the start so people overlook it'' thats also a poor argument, and makes it sound like any game can get by on its title alone. I again bring up marvel vs capcom infinite, a HIGHLY loved and respected series that people have been begging for a sequel, and when they finally got one, they royally screwed up so bad the current player count on steam was single digits.. A game that wasnt even out yet got in evo and mvci didnt.
So if all it took was for a game to be respectable and loved from the start for it to do no wrong, then why did that game fail so poorly? And if sex is what kills a games respect, then why are tekken and street fighter and soul calibur still garnering so much attention? I don't have a ''my fighting game is better than yours'' or a ''my characters better than your character'' perspective and just look at things as middle ground as possible, and theres just nothing that leads me to believe any stereotypes actually have a negative impact on something so big that it becomes niche (tons of games have stereotypes) Fatal fury for example, that games even older than dead or alive and no one had an issue with shiranui mai being busty and skimpy clothed, doa didnt pioneer boob physics. Same goes for Chun li's chest, And ivy and her very christie similar character (to me anyway) And now we have games like snk heroines, and theres plenty of boob in guilty gear.
And i also wanna mention out of all these games, doa is the ONLY one that lets you turn the boob physics OFF, and no ones forcing you to choose the bikinis or skimpy clothes for tournaments, just as no ones forcing you in other games even tho they're there.
I can go on but i think thats enough to make my point that sometimes a game just doesnt blow up the way people want even when it seems good enough to, theres tons of games like that that hardly anyone knows, hence the term ''hidden gems'' Timing, perspective, marketing, theres so many reasons why a game wont become a hit, and ridiculous simple games get the attention of millions. Itd certainly be easy if we could just blame what we want to be the issue, but its usually never that simple. The end
