Beaten in 2018...

[Emperor Megas]

as is the case with most games wherein one plays as a female character (outside of Metroid.) Sex sells. Developers' livelihoods depend on it. They could make a statement and make a game where one plays a female character that is fully clothed and people who dislike objectification of women would be buying it, but would that make up for the millions of teenage boys and young men who don't want to buy a game where the woman isn't half-naked? Probably not. It'd probably be a poor seller and could put the company's stock in jeopardy.

I could be wrong and there could be millions of people who are clamoring for a video game with a self-respecting female character but just knowing the kind of people who are driving the electronic entertainment industry, I can't see it being a hot seller.
)

Could it be a matter of games that have hyper sexualized women tend stand out and get noticed more? By their nature I imagine they would after all. I've been gaming my whole life and not very many of the games I play with female protagonists are over-sexualized (I don't think so anyway), not that I would mind at all if they were (as I rather appreciate that sort of thing, honestly).

I mean, I don't go looking for either types of characters since my taste is fairly broad, but I tend to encounter more Heather Masons, Jill Valentines and Chun Lis, than Bayonettas, B2s, and Ivys. I suppose YMMV, depending on the games you play, but I don't think that a more conservatively dressed/mannered female character would translate to poor sales. Games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and (modern) Tomb Raider games sell pretty well, I think.

I'm not naive in that I don't realize that sex sells, but when you're dealing in fantasy themes especially, style is a pretty big draw, and celebrating extremes like power and sexuality plays well into these sorts of games. It's not unlike the hulking, over-the-top masculine characters in gritty war games.

Granted, you also get boulder punching, He-man'esque Chris Redfields, and flirty, China Dress in the field wearing Ada Wongs in series' that barely benefit from over-the-top (normal) characters, but in general I think there's a very healthy variety of female and male characters in gaming that don't fall into either extreme categories and still sell decently.