Asmongold has weighed in on female character design again, and his latest take is hard to defend. Reacting to a post on his subreddit, the streamer suggested that Western developers deliberately make women unattractive. His reason? To avoid upsetting an insecure, overweight female co-worker.
It’s a striking claim, and it doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny.
Where did this come from?
The moment came while Asmongold was browsing posts on stream. One Reddit user had shared an image of a female warrior from Phantom Blade Zero. The post asked whether it’s “really that hard” for Western developers to make an attractive, strong female character.
Asmongold agreed, then offered his explanation. Making an attractive, intelligent and strong woman, he said, “might make the fat woman in the office sad.” He then gave this imaginary colleague a name, Kathy. “You can’t make Kathy sad,” he joked. As a result, he claimed, studios “make all of them ugly so she doesn’t feel like she’s insecure.”
Why doesn’t Asmongold’s theory hold up?
The biggest problem is that there’s no evidence for it. Asmongold presents his theory as obvious, but he offers nothing to back it up. No developer has said this, and no studio policy shows it. It’s a punchline dressed up as an explanation.
It also misunderstands how games get made. Character designs go through art directors, concept artists, writers and producers. Teams make these choices for countless reasons, including art style, tone, setting and story. Reducing all of that to one jealous employee simply doesn’t match reality.
The joke itself is also mean-spirited. It mocks women’s bodies and paints female game developers as petty and insecure. In an industry where women are still a minority, that kind of rhetoric doesn’t help anyone.
Is Phantom Blade Zero even a fair comparison?
Not really. Phantom Blade Zero comes from S-Game, a Chinese studio with its own artistic style. Comparing one character from one game against “Western devs” as a whole ignores the huge range of games released every year.
Plenty of Asian games also feature women who don’t fit a narrow idea of attractiveness. Likewise, many Western games feature women that fans consider attractive. Picking one image and drawing sweeping conclusions is cherry-picking.
Don’t Western games already have strong women?
They certainly do. Lara Croft has led Tomb Raider for decades. Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Yennefer from The Witcher 3 are both fan favourites. Meanwhile, GTA 6’s Lucia is one of the most anticipated characters of the year.
Ironically, Lucia has faced her own wave of online backlash simply for existing. That suggests the real issue for some critics isn’t how women are designed. It’s that they want women designed only for them.
Who actually plays games?
The audience matters here, too. According to the Entertainment Software Association, women make up nearly half of video game players in the US. Studios design characters for a broad audience, not just one group of fans.
That doesn’t mean every design will please everyone. However, a character not matching one viewer’s taste isn’t proof of a conspiracy.
Is this a one-off?
Unfortunately not. Asmongold has recently argued that women in shooters should mainly be “eye candy” and that “video games are made for men.” Each time, the same pattern appears. Female characters are judged mainly on how appealing they are to male players.
Asmongold has every right to share his opinions, and plenty of his fans clearly agree. Still, blaming an imaginary “Kathy” isn’t a serious argument about game design. With GTA 6 and its new details arriving soon, players will have plenty of chances to judge female characters on their merits, without jokes at the expense of real women in the industry.