This pretty much the only reason that's why we get female glamours most of the time.
Also, they look at the sales of other costumes. (like Male Vs. Female version)
I'm sure that male reskinned CUL AF which you can replicate in-game for free simply flies off the virtual shelves compared to the unique female Valentione's set with apron dress and playful striped stockings. My character can look more or less indistinguishable from Urianger in-game for free with items I have lying around on a retainer; even the base Yda costume at least offers race-locked pants for other races (with limitations - all of those early Scion glamour sets kind of suck). It would be a terrible comparison to make, though I don't doubt that it's exactly what's happening.
Subscriptions are worth more than single cash shop purchases, in the long run, since every individual subscriber has cash shop access. If people who want to play male characters are no longer joining and staying with the game because it's become a typical male gaze panderfest, that's a factor they ought to consider in their corporate decisionmaking.
I mean, if we're talking about pure profit then let's not pretend as if there aren't a lot of people playing male characters who throw a lot of money at this game and have proven time and time again that if neat, cool looking outfits are added to the Mog Station then we will open up our wallets and purchase them immediately.
I also think it's rather deceptive to pretend as if it's a case of female gear selling more often when the grim reality is that male characters just aren't given nearly as much attention across the board in regards to quality and value for money. Plus when female gear is mentioned it's hyped up considerably and arrives in a timely manner. The same cannot be said of male gear. We're still waiting for the elusive variant of the 'bunny outfit' for men. Female characters are clearly the main target audience for the whole 'grow pretty flowers in a flower pot, then craft them into headpieces to wear' and although male characters can use them too there's complete and utter static when it comes to things like more facial hair options and the body hair glamour that was mentioned in an interview and then never brought up again.
That makes it sound like we only have 10% male characters and 90% female characters but thats not true. We still have quite a bit of male characters (one census was around half each?) and we also read that some posters only changed to female because they hate the bad glamours for male.
Also this is a digital good and it might cost some money to change it for the male (or female depending on the original gender) but if its done once you wont have any more costs for it. Thus after a certain number of sold items you will make pure profit out of this. Seeing how they said that the cash shop runs on its own money and that they get lots of money for things like fantasia one would believe that they have enough money to do a version for both genders. Heck a lot of people simply want an outfit for each gender released at the same time. So they could simply have released Lyses and Hiens outfit. (If it was not ready they could have waited till both are)
But yeah what can one get from a company that fears creating cute/sexy outfits for males and that still cant give the bunny set for male characters after years of promising it.
maybe add a Male version of Guardion corp uniform
i suppect a male version would feature long pants instead of a skirt
trenchcoat black mage armor hehe
instead of more male outfits, how about the design team take their time and make every outfit male and female. We have something similar with the Hempen Clothing changing depending on the race, why not do the same thing with every outfit in the game and cash shop?
Their own development team is basically ignoring one portion of the population every time they put something on the cash shop because they don't want to take the time to create a male and female version of every outfit.
I hope this thread can make it to the devs since it was actually noticed by a rep, even if their reply wasn't exactly on-point.
I'll be honest- the biggest reason I took the plunge into XIV was because I could play as a cat boy AND everyone, regardless of gender, wore the same stuff (with small changes as necessary). If I want to be treated like a second-class player, I can go to just about any other MMO out there and not be charged per month for the privilege. Come on SE, tell your devs to suck it up and start making things right again. It's their job to make all kinds of gear, not just the ones they personally want to see and wear.
What baffles me is the fact that Yoshi considered "our developers are not comfortable designing sexy male outfits" as a valid reason. Not doing the job because "my feelings" is a big red sign here in NA. Though I'd reckon, considering Japan has one of the strongest work ethics in the world, this kind of mindset/behaviour won't be considered professional either by their general population.
By all means, not liking sexy male outfits is their prerogative. However, I think it's important to separate between work and personal stance. The bias towards female glamours is obvious, with Ivalice being the most recent example. Little sister is as unique as she can be, but big brother (who is the protagonist in the game) only gets a beige Mocienne outfit. I may not feel as strongly as Serilda and the others regarding this issue, but I fully sympathize with them and support every attempt to enable everyone to wear whatever they fancy.