We’re in a brand-new decade, but that hasn’t stopped some video game developers from falling back on inexcusable explanations for why you can’t play as female characters in certain games. This time, it’s courtesy of Escape from Tarkov creator Battlestate Games, which offered two convenient excuses for why — despite the requests of many players — it will not let you play as a female character in its ultra-realistic military survival sim.

The problem, unfortunately, is that the super-realistic military survival sim doesn't actually give you the option to play as a female character. This, despite multiple requests from the community to offer such an option. That in itself is pretty poor form obviously, but Escape From Tarkov studio Battlestate Games only made things worse when it offered two particularly rubbish excuses for why there are no female playable characters in the game.

Excuse number one is that, as the Russian-based developer explained on Twitter, playable female characters can’t be included “because of game lore.” It’s not exactly clear what that means, but Battlestate seems to be suggesting that its game, which is set in a fictional region of Russia and features an armed conflict between fictional private military companies, doesn’t have a narrative that supports female combatants. By the way, you can buy cheap Escape from Tarkov Bitcoin from z2u.com, where you can enjoy a 3% discount by using the code “Z2U”.

The second reason is an all-too familiar one. Battlestate wrote that there would be no playable female characters because of "the huge amount of work needed with animations, gear fitting etc". This led to much rolling of eyes and scratching of heads, especially because Battlestate had literally just established that it could animate female NPCs for quests and trading and such.

Although it shouldn’t need to be said, women have been able to participate in active military service — yes, even in Russia — for decades now. Perhaps Battlestate should take a few immersion cues from the real-world history of planet Earth.