Earlier, I told you about 'Concord' -- the video game that cost Sony $400M after it bombed.
It's the latest in a disturbing, dumfounding trend from studios and game developers (and corporations at large) of infusing wokeness into everything. It boggles my mind that business -- whether they make content or cars -- repeatedly punch themselves in face by catering to woke audiences.
Eventually, you'd think they'd learn it hurts. But they're unable of that level of introspection.
'Concord', for example, created 'body-positive' characters rife with pronouns, and made it very clear that this game wasn't for those bigoted, hateful, misogynistic gamers. Otherwise known as the people who actually spend money on video games.
When you insult the vast majority of your consumer base -- when you outright tell them this product is not meant for them -- you cannot expect them to fork up the money to purchase it. What you can expect, as Sony learned, is to lose your shirt.
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But Sony is not alone. Disney did the same thing with 'Star Wars' and it's now-canceled show 'The Acolyte.' The show cost Disney $180 million to produce one season (an eye-watering $671,641 per minute of footage). What did viewers get for all that money? Lesbian space witches and a complete retcon of 'Star Wars' lore.
Why? Well, back in July lead actress Amandla Stenberg and showrunner Leslye Headland had very good laugh about 'The Acolyte' being the 'gayest 'Star Wars' ever.'
More from The Wrap:
“The Acolyte” star Amandla Stenberg is shocked over the observation that her show is the “gayest” Star Wars – but not for the reason you may be expecting.
“I think that Star Wars is so gay already,” Stenberg told TheWrap’s Drew Taylor in a recent interview. “I mean have you seen the ‘fits? We’d be like ‘Look how gay this is’ and send each other reference photos.”
“Are you telling me, with a straight face, that C-3PO is straight?” series creator Leslye Headland asked.
The Left seems to take a perverse pleasure of taking the things people love and destroying them.
Having learned nothing from 'The Acolyte', Disney -- through the MCU -- debuted 'Agatha All Along', a spin-off of the 'WandaVision' television show.
I watched, and liked, WandaVision but even I have zero interest in 'Agatha.' It's -- once again -- a show meant to exclude actual MCU fans, the majority of which are men:
Agatha All Along is NOT a show made for Marvel Comics fans or men in general
— Nerdrotic (@Nerdrotics) September 19, 2024
It is a show made by and for wine moms whose accessory kids are raised by nannies, and it reflects the Los Angeles they live in today.#AgathaAllAlong
Nerdrotic is correct.
Men make up roughly 63% of comic book buyers while women make up 37%. In 2023, 68% of men and 45% of women expressed interest in watching superhero movies.
It is a man-heavy demographic. And yet studios seem hellbent on making content that excludes men, and bragging about it. Women -- by and large -- don't buy comic books or watch superhero movies. Of those women who do (like yours truly), we don't want the woke, feminist garbage the studios are shoveling.
Take 'She-Hulk', for example. This girl power movie was universally panned and has 5.2 stars on IMDB (while 'Avengers: Endgame' has an 8.4).
But this is the dominant mentality here:
https://t.co/j74BSxOAxW pic.twitter.com/wNekEfP8TP
— thenando 🎃 (@nandooriola) September 20, 2024
Fine. If you don't want 'incels' (nice, pejorative, by the way) to watch your show: good luck.
You cannot rely on a minority group -- women, LGBTQ, whatever -- to carry a show after you've told the majority of the audience to go away. It defies mathematic and economic reality.
All people want are good shows that tell a good story with interesting characters. We don't have that anymore. We have these identity vignettes where the show runners and writers try to air their grievances.
No, really. Headland said she used the twin sister main characters in 'The Acolyte' to work through her issues with her own sister.
Viewers don't want their entertainment to be a damned therapy session for the production team.
You cannot have a successful show if you don't have an audience, and you can't have an audience when you openly, actively, and proudly exclude the majority because they're not politically correct enough for you.
When 'The Acolyte' failed, Stenberg blamed 'toxic' fans. The people she clearly didn't want watching her show. She called the blowback a 'rampage of hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol.'
But that's not it. That's not what caused 'The Acolyte' or 'Concord' to fail and it's not what's going to cause 'Agatha All Along' to sink.
It's because Disney and Sony created content for a very small fraction of the potential consumer base while demonizing the majority of the consumer base as bigots.
They're not.
They're the audience content creators and corporations should be listening to. Because they're right.
