‘Temple Run 2’ Makes Scarlett Fox Free, Will Add More Female Characters

After a 12-year old girl asked why most infinite runners only had male characters as default characters, developer Imangi Studios has decided to respond. The studio’s biggest hit, “Temple Run 2,” will now have Scarlett Fox as a free character instead of a paid one as a way to give female players a female default character they can choose.

The aforementioned 12-year-old girl is Madeline Messer, who made the rounds after she wrote an article on the Washington Post, wondering why most iPhone games make people pay to play as female characters. After doing a gender breakdown on these infinite-runner games, she uncovered that only 46 percent of these mobile runners offer female characters and 90 percent of those games require payment to unlock female characters. Considering that 60 percent of “Temple Run” players are female, this could be considered ridiculous.

Keith Shepherd, the co-founder of Imangi Studios, responded to the controversy in the comments section of an article by Touch Arcade, covering the Madeline Messer story. He claimed that he and his wife have been in contact with Messer and that she was right, stating that Scarlett Fox would soon be a free character in ‘Temple Run 2.” That being said, he mentioned that Imangi Studios also made “Temple Run: Brave” with a default character Merida, a female character from the popular Pixar film “Brave.”

Shepherd has since made good on his promise, as Pocket Gamer has reported that Scarlett Foxx is now a free character for anyone to choose. The move will be a permanent one and should please anyone who was hoping that the game would have a default female character.

In addition to that announcement, Shepherd has also promised that there will be even more female characters that will be added to “Temple Run 2” in the near future. While these characters haven’t been added yet, one can assume that they will appear in the next “Temple Run 2” update.

‘Temple Run 2” is a free-to-play title that is available for both iOS and Android devices. The game has been a huge success since its release, easily eclipsing its predecessor in popularity, and now it has a default female character for female gamers everywhere.

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Temple Run 2 - Official launch trailer (Credit: YouTube/Imangi Studios)