Why there be no sweet man-on-man action in mah' AAA games?

As I hear on Twitter, some people got their balls stuck between subway train doors over some lesbian stuff in The Last of Us 2, and somebody noticed that while there is some representation of female gay relationships in AAA gaming, there are barely any mandatory male gay relationships. And that there was absolutely no representation at E3.

While I understand that all people want their stories told, making a mandatory male gay romantic relationship for a protagonist in a AAA game is commercial suicide. Let’s break this down. AAA game. These games are expensive, and companies need to at least recoup the costs.

Mandatory. I like to think that the gaming community is better than crying out over a possibility of a male protagonist initiating a romance with a man. Sales of Mass Effect and the like back me up. Issues start when male companions pester the protagonist for romance and get worse when there is no choice at all.

Male gay. Heterosexual men are the largest group of gamers. Games aim to put the player into the head of the protagonist: you are making the choices for them, their story is your story, which is why it always feel like a betrayal when a game makes you do something you would never do in a similar situation. By the way, I feel for people of other sexualities who have to endure watching men and women sticking tongues down each other’s throats in almost every piece of entertainment. That must be vaguely disconcerting to downright nauseating.

Mandatory paths in AAA games will always be made in such a way as to be acceptable to the majority of potential players. And yes, I see the irony in the fact that I’m much less uncomfortable with the protagonist going on a murderous rampage because they like money (GTA comes to mind) than playing a character in a relationship with no women in it.