Now that FF16 will feature LGBT+ characters, can we get some rep in FF14 too?

[Stormpeaks]

It has been banned in exactly one country.
How many of the FFXIV players are from Saudi Arabia in your opinion? (You know, the game which isn't even localized in that country's main language?)
I don't think it impacts SE in a meaningful way.

Actually it does have quite a few players, Ragnarok which is a world on Chaos has a lot of saudi arabian players, emiratis etc, basically lots of people from the middle east, so yes, it would impact SE in a meaningful way, for the sake of forcing this stuff into the game.

[Kazhar]

Actually it does have quite a few players, Ragnarok which is a world on Chaos has a lot of saudi arabian players, emiratis etc, basically lots of people from the middle east, so yes, it would impact SE in a meaningful way, for the sake of forcing this stuff into the game.

Again FFXVI was banned in only one country in the middle east. So I don't even know why you bother talking about anything that's not Saudi Arabia.
Also, it seems insane to me that some people here actually condone big corporations bending the knee and applying censorship to please a country which actually executes people for being LGBT.
Have some decency.

[Hurlstone]

Again FFXVI was banned in only one country in the middle east. So I don't even know why you bother talking about anything that's not Saudi Arabia.
Also, it seems insane to me that some people here actually condone big corporations bending the knee and applying censorship to please a country which actually executes people for being LGBT.
Have some decency.

Its been interesting to see some of the reaction to it, specifically from folk who will rage at companies censoring the likes of ‘fan service’ based character art for western releases, but seem far more accepting of censoring LGBTQ+ content, for some reason…

[Nav_Fae]

You know what the saddest part about that scene was? When I had first saw it, I didn't even react like, "Oh cool there are gay people in this scene". My first reaction was a giggle that there were going to posts about this on the FFXIV forums. Had this place on my mind the whole time.

[Kazhar]

You know what the saddest part about that scene was? When I had first saw it, I didn't even react like, "Oh cool there are gay people in this scene". My first reaction was a giggle that there were going to posts about this on the FFXIV forums. Had this place on my mind the whole time.

To be fair, every notable thing from FFXVI has been made a post here.
I'm surprised Titanmen didn't try to milk that one sooner, it's such a low-hanging fruit.

But outside of very specific places on the internet, the gay kiss has been one of the game's least controversial parts.

[Stormpeaks]

Again FFXVI was banned in only one country in the middle east. So I don't even know why you bother talking about anything that's not Saudi Arabia.
Also, it seems insane to me that some people here actually condone big corporations bending the knee and applying censorship to please a country which actually executes people for being LGBT.
Have some decency.

One country is enough to not bring it to an MMORPG like FFXIV, that's a lot of money lost over the months and years.

Also there's already LGBT stuff, and to even add to that, I am bisexual, I dont need every character in the game to be bisexual to feel "represented", hell I dont even need representation at all, I just.. dont care ? It's a video game

Because I have fun with both men and women every character in the game should be the same ? I should have "representation" ? What I do in my bedroom only matters to me, not every other person on the planet.

[Kazhar]

One country is enough to not bring it to an MMORPG like FFXIV, that's a lot of money lost over the months and years.

Source: "just believe me".
Your POV only works if you believe positive representation of LGBT people doesn't bring enough money to Square Enix that they have to cater to countries systematically murdering them to cover the costs.

All we know is that Saudi Arabia asked SE to remove a relatively unimportant gay kiss between two secondary characters or they would ban the game entirely, and SE didn't care. I don't think anyone would have even noticed its absence if it didn't happen, yet they didn't bother to do it.

Isn't that proof enough for you that they think it's worth it?

[Stormpeaks]

Source: "just believe me".
Your POV only works if you believe positive representation of LGBT people doesn't bring enough money to Square Enix that they have to cater to countries systematically murdering them to cover the costs.

All we know is that Saudi Arabia asked SE to remove a relatively unimportant gay kiss between two secondary characters or they would ban the game entirely, and SE didn't care. I don't think anyone would have even noticed its absence if it didn't happen, yet they didn't bother to do it.

Isn't that proof enough for you that they think it's worth it?

I mean, yes, one country is enough, that's a lot of money lost as I just mentioned.

Also you are delusional if you think people join this game because it's "LGBT friendly" ,idk what world you live in, you dont join a game telling yourself "oh this game is great it's lgbt friendly ! awesome !"

They didnt agree to remove what SA asked for, but that doesnt mean they will do the same mistake again, they now know what line is crossing it too far for those countries.

[Kazhar]

They didnt agree to remove what SA asked for, but that doesnt mean they will do the same mistake again, they now know what line is crossing it too far for those countries.

Square Enix isn't at their first rodeo, Life is Strange, another Square Enix published game was also banned in Saudi Arabia years ago for very similar reasons. Heck, one of the reason Don't Nod studio chosed Square Enix as their publisher is because it was the one big corporation which didn't want to censor their work.
There's an absolute 0% chance they didn't know it would happen with FFXVI. Big companies like SE usually have specifically dedicated team made specifically to evaluate how the game's content will affect the ratings and the sales in multiples countries. (Even much smaller dev teams do that, btw)

Also, "mistake"? At least try to hide your biais a little.

[Stormpeaks]

Square Enix isn't at their first rodeo, Life is Strange, another Square Enix published game was also banned in Saudi Arabia years ago for very similar reasons. Heck, one of the reason Don't Nod studio chosed Square Enix as their publisher is because it was the one big corporation which didn't want to censor their work.
There's an absolute 0% chance they didn't know it would happen with FFXVI. Big companies like SE usually have specifically dedicated team made specifically to evaluate how the game's content will affect the ratings and the sales in multiples countries. Even smallers one, btw.

Also, "mistake"? At least try to hide your biais a little.

Yes I am bisexual and I am 100% biased towards Saudi Arabia, that clearly makes sense

/s

I said what I said, it's all about the money, those countries, in this particular case saudi arabia bring in money, period, SE is here to make money.

I will repeat though : What I do in my bed is my own problem, not everyone else's, I dont need representation in a video game, I dont need all the characters to suddenly become gay or bisexual.