The thing is, though, this isn't really new with Dragon Ball games either. It's been problematic with the series as a video game franchise for a long time. Even the more casual "fighting game" Xenoverse 2 has a terrible ratio of male fighters to female fighters and that game has even more simplified characters to design (literally only three actual combos per character, 5-6 special moves, less complex character models). And even when you count the custom female characters, I think the amount of playable female characters in Xenoverse 2 is less than 10 in a roster of almost or now is 100 characters. That's a really bad ratio.
And the joke is, it's getting more DLC even now and guess what the next DLC character is coming in June? Another version of Vegeta. You heard me. Another Vegeta. The Super Saiyan God Vegeta. In a game where there's already like 4 actual Vegetas in the game when you exclude the character variations, if you include the character variants it's well over 15 something Vegetas (the variants are on one Vegeta character slot). The truth is, while there's an opportunity for more unique characters in an even more casual Dragon Ball game even then it seems Toei/Shueisha would rather promote the new movie and focus on the main characters.
Meanwhile yes, it's true Xenoverse 2 got Kefla already but keep in mind that the amount of playable females in the game is still similarly low. Her inclusion doesn't suddenly make Dimps that much better than ASW in that regard.
I feel with Xenoverse 2 as evidence that the decisions for characters definitely rests at the top of the chain and not the developers. Maybe the developers have some say, but definitely not as much as one might think.
All of the blame doesn't go to ASW is my point with this post. That said, I'm also not suggesting this is a losing battle because of it being more tied to Toei/Shueisha and such. This kind of discussion is important for sure as character variety is sorely lacking in FighterZ in general; I'm all for more females, I'd really like Kefla, Caulifla, and Kale. Those three would add a lot more than what base Goku and base Vegeta did to the game.
Anyway, just some food for thought.
