I don't really care much for diversity if the actual character totally sucks. Faith in Mirror's Edge was about as compelling as Marcus Fenix. AAllxxjjnn

I'd blame the ones buying the games first. Activision is in the business of making money. Not catering to 2% of gamers who buy games with female leads. I don't think anyone wants to gamble away millions of dollars just prove they aren't sexist or have diverse game heroes. Whatever sells is what get's put on the shelf, period. If you made shoes and you realized that red shoes weren't selling. Would you waste money making them?Bread_or_Decide

Sadly they could very well be right. Lara Croft is pretty much the only big selling one I can think of, and she's a joke imo. If only Beyond Good And Evil sold more, Jade was rockin'!locopatho

[Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander looks at the apparent recasting of a female protagonist to male in what would become Activision's True Crime 3, asking whether this is symptomatic of larger issues around focus testing and female character representation in the industry.]

Games with female leads don't sell. At least that's what Activision believes, looking at top software sellers in any given year for evidence and choosing only projects that go with the trend, sources claim.

In 2007, we're told the publisher even went so far as to change the protagonist in a new concept -- the project that would become True Crime 3 -- from a female to a male, on the rationale that the female wouldn't move software units.

Numerous former employees of the company's studios tell Gamasutra that Activision relies on focus tests to a contentious extent -- and the result is that according to our research, the only titles published by Activision since 2005 that feature female leads are licenses, like Barbie and Dora.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29719/InDepth_No_Female_Heroes_At_Activision.php

so what does every one think? I'm not surprised with Activisions recent attitudes and decisions, and Kotticks involvement with a losing sexual harrasment case.

WilliamRLBaker