The European magazine Gamereactor planed to have artwork from The Last of Us on their cover. The art provided by developer Naughty Dog included the game’s two protagonists Joel and Ellie.

When the newest issue of Gamereactor came out, Ellie had been digitally removed from the cover, leaving just Joel. When questioned by the developer as to why Ellie was missing, responded that they let their audience vote on that months cover, and they chose the one without Ellie.

This feels eerily familiar to what happened with Bioshock Infinite’s cover controversy. The cover depicted only the male lead in a pose reminiscent of most military shooters, simply because that style of presentation appealed more to a frat boy demographic. We need more female protagonists in games, and for a game with such a high profile as The Last of Us, it’s shameful that certain press outlets are actively downplaying any aspect that doesn’t pander to their audience.

source: Destructoid