Quote Originally Posted by Penthea View Post
I am completely aware of this but there is a massive difference between unrevealed concept art leading to nowhere, and concept art you revealed to your audience leading to nowhere. When you reveal something to your audience you are giving them expectations.

It's SE's fault that there is backlash over gender locking, not the players. If SE never showed the players male viera the controversy surrounding them would be a lot smaller. Though players would still be asking for them because those that are okay with gender locked races appear to be in the minority.
And yoshida has commented that he didn't really want to show everyone the Viera concept art because of exactly what is happening now.

I'm not saying SE doesn't shoulder some blame for why people are angry about it, but they shouldn't be held hostage just because people are angry about something. In the end it is SE's decision to make, just like it was their decision to make Blue Mage as a limited job even though they knew it would make people angry too. People in this thread continue to grossly overstate the blowback and impact this will cause if it happens.