Final Fantasy XIII (2009): Six strangers branded as l’Cie must defy fate or doom their world. It focused on fast-paced Paradigm Shift combat and a highly linear narrative structure. AKA Final Fantasy 13, FF13, FFXIII
After Final Fantasy 13 Square Enix had get rid of the turn based combat. This game has been unfairly hated by critics and fans. Lightning is hated not because she is a woman, she is hated because she is physically and verbally abusive to her teammates. This game has many fault's but I think Square Enix blamed the lower sales because of Lightning being a woman. She is the first female protagonist since Terra from Final Fantasy 6.
This game is followed by Final Fantasy 15 where the main character and the party members are all men. Then Final Fantasy 16 where the only playable characters are Joshua and Clive. I have a feeling the out of touch marketing of the game blamed the low sales to Lightning being a woman because for 3 games in a row we don't have female main character.
Which is unfair because I won't consider Final Fantasy XV a hit neither and the lack of female party members is one of the reason people hates it.
If your Theory is true then why Intergrade DLC is created in Final Fantasy VII remake and why Tifa and Aerith have playable segments.
We currently have a culture wars where some Geeks accuse a movie or tv show "woke" if the protagonist is female. I hated that but at this moment the term woke is a sales killer.I think Square Enix is still interested on making a game with female lead but not the current political climate.
Darn it, I thought Jill is going to be playable. We don't even have a party system.
Eversince the graphics of the game improved to look realistic, the playable characters decreased.
Lightning Returns have negative reviews and mediocre sales, it pulled the trigger.
The summons will be the only female characters we will have sadly.
The moment they announced 16 will not have a party but a single playable character turned the game into a sausage fest already and the only way we can have playable female is dlc. We can blame final fantasy 13 for it.