Grand Theft Auto V just released (you can look forward to our review soon enough) and among the many topics discussed on the Web, there is also some backlash on Rockstar because of the lack of a playable female lead character. Some felt it was the right moment for this step, but Rockstar reiterated that these characters are appropriate for the plot.
Still, in an interview with The Guardian, vice president Dan Houser opened up the realm of possibilities for an upcoming game, stating that a female lead could be “fantastic” if done right.
We didn’t really think about it this time. That’s not to say that we couldn’t or we wouldn’t. This character set is just what came to us: it wasn’t, “we’ve got X and Y so we need Z”, we weren’t trying to do it off a checklist – I don’t think that will ever give you something that’s believable or engaging. In the future, could we do a game with a lead female character? Of course. We just haven’t found the right game for it yet, but it’s one of the things that we always think about. It didn’t feel natural for this game but definitely for the right game in the future – with the right themes, it could be fantastic. But for GTA V, this was the organic thing that came up, these were the characters what would display the themes we wanted to think about.
I agree with the sentiment that pouring elements from a checklist in a game is probably the best way to completely screw its plot. Hopefully, though, that moment for a playable female lead in a GTA game isn’t too far off.
