Is Genshin Impact catering to both its male and female playerbase?
So, this begs the question...​​​​
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The Current Roster
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As of version 5.1, there is currently a roster of 89 playable characters in the game with 30 of them being male characters. This gives us a male to female ratio of around 1:2, which has remained consistent since the game’s release. There has been much complaint over the abundance of female playable characters, especially when new female limited units are released back to back with the occasional male five star chucked in here and there.
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The game’s player base is made up of approximately 45% female and 55% male, so why doesn't the same ratio apply to the playable characters?​​​​​​​​​​
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The short answer is...
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It is the general belief that gaming is a male dominated industry, especially in the gacha sphere. Some have argued that it is because the average man earns more than the average woman, and most have claimed that the otaku community is mainly made up of men. At the end of the day, Miyoho prefers releasing waifus over husbandos, and the whales of Genshin seem to agree.
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Let's take a look at the rankings for the highest earning gacha games in the past month.
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All Regions Revenue (Sep 2024)
Global
Japan
Japan has certainly been evidence of this generalisation with a majority of their top games being male-oriented, predominantly of the "shounen" JRPG genre like Monster Strike or the all-female character cast like Uma Musume: Pretty Derby. China on the other hand has seen a better balance between male-oriented and female-oriented games, a stark contrast against the Japanese market.
It is all the more surprising that a female-catered gacha game like Love and Deepspace has taken over first place as THE current highest selling gacha game in the Chinese market and overall globally.​​​​​​​​​​​​
Considering that Mihoyo pays the most attention to their Chinese player-base, isn't this something that they should take advantage of as part of their most popular game?​​​​​​​​​​​​
Male vs. Female Gaze
The theory of “the Male and Female Gaze” has been a trending topic in current media and entertainment. Coined in 1975 by Laura Mulvey in her essay on cinematography, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, this term has also made its way into the video game industry and in this case, the gacha gaming community. Like many others, Mihoyo bears the brunt of much public scrutiny over the company catering more to the male gaze over their counterpart.
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So what exactly is "the male gaze"? The male gaze is described as a heterosexual male perspective that sees women as sexual objects as a means of empowering men. Genshin is guilty of feeding to this kind of demographic with quite an extensive history of fanservice content for their female characters.​​​​​​​​​​​​
It is debated amongst players whether or not the game over-sexualises their female characters, and it really depends on individual perspectives on sex-positivity. Most agree that compared to other gacha games, Genshin is rather mild in its sexualisation of women, but the reality still remains that it exists nonetheless.​ The company has already been hit with Chinese censorship regulations that caused them to redesign some early female characters namely Jean, Amber, Rosaria and Mona as shown below.​​​​​​​​​
Redesigns w/ censorship
Original Designs
Yet, it seems like the rest of the female cast have been exempted from such laws. This fact has become even more apparent with the release of the newest region, Natlan, and their predominantly female cast members. Their designs have become significantly more bold, with female characters wearing clothing that emphasises certain assets, if not barely covering anything.​​​​​​​​​
Surely, you've noticed something.​​​​​​​​​
Booty shorts?
Exposed legs?
Latex bodysuit?
Not only is there only are there only two male characters out of the nine confirmed playable Natlan characters, but most of the female designs have something in common - exposed legs and shoulders. Mihoyo knows the effectiveness of fanservice and the easiest way to achieve this is through what players will get a taste of first - their drip marketing.
Compare the above designs to one like the popular character, Arlecchino, whose sales of a whopping $119 million surpassed even the infamous Yelan and Hu Tao banner.​​​​​​​​​
Arlecchino's design is far from the typical male gaze and perhaps leans more towards the female gaze. She is fully covered from top to bottom with no accentuation of female assets, and yet she was highly coveted by both male and female players, not for sex appeal, but for her personality, lore and abilities.
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She is proof that a female character don't need to be sexualised to be loved.
Not to say that Mihoyo as a company is ignorant of their female players as evidenced by their Tears of Themis franchise, but that they should also consider implementing a more balanced ratio of male to female characters in Genshin Impact. And, perhaps they could also extend this concept to their other popular game, Honkai: Star Rail, which also bears the curse of the 1:2 ratio. Let's just say, as a heterosexual female Genshin player myself, I would love to have more husbandos in my collection.​​​​​​​​​
