History Main / LadyNotAppearingInThisGame

* Music/{{OutKast}}'s first five albums (including the GreatestHits compilation) featured nude portraits of women printed on the cd's, painted by bandmember [=Andre3000=].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'' there are four characters pictured on the cover (not counting the dragon): three of them (the knight Traldar, Forgrimm the dwarf and Gwendala the Elf) are meet ingame as party members, but the scantly dressed buxom wizard on the right isn't. She may be the player character, though there aren't female mages with such a design.

* ''Rise of Mythos'', another game advertised on this very Wiki, combines this trope with unintentional comedy by using images lifted from another game -- namely, ''VideoGame/KantaiCollection''. Even if you ''don't'' know that the young woman in the ad is the [[MoeAnthropomorphism Moe Personification]] of a Japanese WWII battleship, you might find yourself asking why a teen girl in a SailorFuku is being used to advertise a medieval fantasy-based game[[note]]Making it even funnier, they used fan-favorite character Shimakaze, making it more likely that someone will notice the plagiarism[[/note]].

* Ever heard of Knightshift? Known in the states as OnceUponAKnight? No? Well, two out of the six official wallpapers at http://www.knightshift.com/eng/index_eng.htm prominently feature a bikinified magic babe... who isn't in the game. Another features an alt design for the Amazon Sorceress, which is noticeably kinkier than the in-game counterpart.... maybe if they had better marketing than "Hot Babe Who's Not in the Game Wallpapers" there might have been a sequel?
* Male inversion in ''VideoGame/ArcRiseFantasia'' - Niko, the comic relief character, is the only main playable character not mentioned in the manual or featured on the box art, yet he joins exceptionally early in the game and sticks around for a very long time (with continuing importance to the plot after that). Following the trope closer is Adele, who never joins you except as a Guest character, yet she rates a picture in the manual stating her weapon preference... though her in-game outfit changes after only a few hours.

* The front box art of ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic 7'': For Blood and Honor displays an adventuring party that includes a warrior woman in a miniskirt and plate mail halter top, a bare chested male barbarian type hero, and a female sorcerer in clingy robes. None of these outfits exist in the game - only leather, chain and plate armor exists, and all of it covers the entire chest. Even unarmored characters by default wear a cloth jerkin.

* A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf8MJkuE3N0 trailer]] for the EA-published multiplayer game ''Knockout City'' in the February 17, 2021 Nintendo Direct featured multiple characters -- including an ogre, a woman in a mech suit, a soldier, and a sassy princess named Princess Charm (who is depicted as a 2D sprite rather than 3D) -- talking about leading their team to victory and the like, implying that they were playable characters in said game. Turns out they were literally ''players'' of the game, and the game was actually a battle royale-styled dodgeball game with a completely different art style to all of them. The BaitAndSwitch left many viewers disappointed, although Princess Charm has received plenty of fan art.

* ''[[VideoGame/ForgeOfEmpires Forge of Empires]]'' is another one using explicit but untrue claims of pornographic content. One ad on a torrent website touts the "World's First Online Sex Game" and shows blatentaly pornographic images that aren't in the game at all. A few ''Forge of Empires'' ads show and promise gay porn instead, making them a rare [[GenderInvertedTrope male example]].

** In fact, a lot of {{Allegedly Free Game}}s will use characters from other games in borderline illegal ad campagins -- just keep an eye out, and you'll be able to spot them ''easily'' due to this trope.[[note]]And it's no longer exclusive to women -- companies have used artwork of ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' characters to advertise their games, among other (copyrighted) titles.[[/note]]

** In fact, a lot of {{Allegedly Free Game}}s do this as well - just keep an eye out, and you'll be able to spot them ''easily'' due to this trope.[[note]]And it's no longer exclusive to women -- companies have used artwork of ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' characters to advertise their games, among other (copyrighted) titles.[[/note]]

* Browser-based game ''Blood and Jade'' features ads that blatantly use video footage from ''other'' games, such as [[VideoGame/DeadOrAlive Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2]] -- not even attempting to hide or alter Kasumi, Hitomi, or Tina in the advertisements. A 3D advertisement for the game showcases [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Yukari and Ran]] dancing around in swimsuits, which was taken from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44yRCV4GjN8 this]] fan made MMD music video set to a J-Pop song. On top of that, their regular ads also feature scanty clad women who actually exist in the game and act as party members -- calling into question why they felt the need to rip off other sources in the first place.

* As illustrated above, the online ads for ''{{VideoGame/Evony}}'' featured women ranging from innocent-looking girls to porn stars, beckoning "my Lord" to play the game. It's worth noting that ''Evony'' is not an RPG but a strategy game, meaning you don't see ''anyone'' up close, let alone some bimbo in [[ChainmailBikini anachronistic lingerie]]. Evony's ad campaign's slow degeneration from actual relevant ads to "'''Boobies!''' [-(oh, and play our game)-]" has become [[http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/07/14/evolution-of-evony-video-game-ads/ a running joke]] on game-related sites. It didn't just stop there. Eventually they started stealing licensed characters from other games. Wait, what is Queen Antonia, featured mascot of VideoGame/EverQuestII, doing in that adver- OH GOD DAMMIT, EVONY! The trend has spread to other, similar {{Allegedly Free Game}}s as well - just keep an eye out, and you'll be able to spot them ''easily'' due to this trope.[[note]]And it's no longer exclusive to women - companies have used artwork of ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' characters to advertise their games, among other (copyrighted) titles.[[/note]]

* ''[[VideoGame/ForgeOfEmpires Forge of Empires]]'' is another one using explicit but untrue claims of pornographic content. One ad on a torrent website touts the "World's First Online Sex Game" and shows a naked CGI woman with her legs held apart by goblinoid hands, her vagina and anus gaping. Following the link leads to a page showing two more realistic naked CGI women in the scissor sexual position, and the signup form. A few Forge of Empires ads show and promise gay porn instead, making them a rare [[GenderInvertedTrope male example]].
* The ads for ''Machines at War 3'' have both female and male soldiers - but while the dudes are tough marine types wearing military camo gear and angry faces (and at least one decidedly unsexy officer-type person with suitably decorated uniform), the girls are in scuba gear and skintight "tactical" suits with implausible cleavages and sexy come-here-you faces (with lipstick, natch). Notably, this being a top-down RTS with 2D graphics, no soldier is actually visible in great detail during the game.
* It's gotten so prevalent in the mobile gaming strategy space that one is surprised when an ad doesn't invoke this trope.

* An ad for a game called Call of Roma ''goes even further than Evony'' by featuring a scantily clad woman and advertising that you are "one click away from a Roman orgy." It's a turn based strategy game. Later, they replaced "orgy" with "empire"... briefly. Apparently it's a tradition they established when they called their game Caesary.

* ''Wartune'' takes this even further by outright ''claiming'' to be a pornographic game. It has scantily clad ladies in every single one of its ads, uses slogans like "Your body is my party... Let's get it started!", and later added that they've [[RatedMForMoney apparently been rated "Adults Only"]] by the ESRB, and is for [[AllMenArePerverts "Male Gamers Only"]]. A brief search of the ESRB website shows that no such rating has been issued. (This actually got the company in legal trouble, since the ESRB holds a trademark on their ratings icons so companies can't use them to lie about the contents of their games - ''exactly what ''Wartune'' was using them for''.)
-->'''''Warning:''''' ''Once you're inside, your friends won't be seeing much of you!''
** Another one has "[[BuxomIsBetter Big boobs?]] You can ask for more!"
** And all this is made even worse by the fact that at the the time of writing, Wartune is the featured game on Miniclip.com, a decidedly kid-friendly game site. It's a wonder it managed to get there with its ads all over.
** Incidentally, this game is published by Creator/AeriaGames (among others), which also published the aforementioned ''VideoGame/ScarletBlade''. After Aeria acquired ''Scarlet Blade'', the number of these types of ads started skyrocketing. [[SexSells Coincidence?]] It should also be noted that some of the females appearing in ''Wartune's'' ads do actually appear in the game.
** However, one ad for Wartune features what is quite obviously a ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Blood Elf]]'', with red hair, extended eyebrows and glowing green eyes. Seems they've taken a page from ''Evony'' above.
** They don't stop with just scantily clad women either. On some NSFW sites, the girls in their ads are fully naked, not hiding anything from view. There still isn't any nudity in the game, so that's pretty much VeryFalseAdvertising right there.
** One of their ads promoting the "adult game" angle actually links to a cartoon image of a scantily clad woman with her face framed by the two large penises she is groping, with everything covered in semen, and the slogan, "Fuck your way to victory in the most addictive adult game ever!" And this ad appears on a domain called "3Dpornvideos." And if you click through, you get to a Wartune signup page. (Or sometimes League of Angels, even though the porn ad had "Wartune" in the page title.)
* And now another one, called ''Tynon'', is at it and reusing the old "Play now, my lord! Free forever!" slogan from ''Evony''. If you thought the two titles looked similar, you'd be right, since the game is in fact made by ''Evony''[='=]s developers.
* Like ''League of Angels'' above, browser-based games such as ''Blood and Jade'' blatantly use video footage from [[VideoGame/DeadOrAlive Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2]]. No attempts to hide or alter Kasumi, Hitomi, or Tina in the advertisements. Their regular ads, however, do feature scanty clad women who exist in the game and act as party members.
** More recently they've been showing a 3D advertisement showcasing what appear to be [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Yukari and Ran]] dancing around in swimsuits, with plenty of JigglePhysics and breast/ass shots abound.
** As if that wasn't egregious enough, that was taken from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44yRCV4GjN8 this]] fan made MMD music video set to a J-Pop song.
* ''Game of War: Fire Age'' seems to have taken this to the next level, by buying television ad space (In at least 3 countries, one even a different language.) to spam a commercial filled with troops led by model and actress Kate Upton, baring a ''lot'' of cleavage. She does at least appear in-game, in the form of the tutorial goddess.

* A male, non-{{Fanservice}} example. Some news stories and unofficial ads for ''VideoGame/PokemonGo'' have been using pictures of Website/YouTube's [[https://www.youtube.com/user/TheJWittz TheJWittz]], specifically a cartoon depiction of him that appears in the thumbnails of his videos. He later made and posted [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uohYSISNJIc this video]] all about it.
* The logo of ''VideoGame/BungoToAlchemist'' depicts an eyeless man in a kimono reading a book who does not at any point actually appear in the game.
* The first two ''VideoGame/FIFASoccer'' games also had male, non-fanservice examples. Every instalment of the series has featured at least one footballer prominently on the front cover, but the first two games didn't actually include any licensed players at all, so the players on the covers of those games - David Platt and Erik Thorstvedt respectively - didn't actually appear in them.

* Another infamous male example is the box art for lesser-known space-shooter ''VideoGame/{{Phalanx}}'' - which inexplicably featured [[https://www.destructoid.com//ul/471030-Header-noscale.jpg an old, bearded man with a banjo.]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has its fair share of sexy women, though the manga compilations that have the most provocative covers usually contain the least amount of fanservice. [[http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/6/67663/2568468-17.jpg Volume 17]] is the biggest offender, featuring Yoruichi Shihoin wearing spray-on pants, even though she's nowhere to be found in this volume.
* The cover art for ''LightNovel/HennekoTheHentaiPrinceAndTheStonyCat'' depicts two blushing, bikini-clad [[CatGirl catgirls]] snuggling suggestively. Though the two girls in question '''do''' appear in the anime, the scene depicted never happens, neither of them is a CatGirl outside of fantasy sequences (and never both at once), and they are not in a sexual relationship (though one of them might like to be). Also, the younger of the two girls is [[EmotionlessGirl incapable of expressing her emotions]] due to her wish, and as such shouldn't be able to blush.

* Possibly the most egregious example might be the cover of the direct-to-video horror film [[https://www.pinterest.com/pin/467318898804136201/ ''Demon Possessed'']]. Sorry, guys, she's not even ''in'' this film.

* The teaser for ''Literature/BoredOfTheRings'' talks of Frito's seduction by a "voluptuous elf maiden" who does not appear in the book at all. This is really a legitimate {{parody}} of the trope, or at least of the sex-sells mindset in general, though -— after all, the whole book is a parody.

* ''VideoGame/BlakeStone: Planet Strike'' was Apogee's first retail title, and their publisher, Formgen, wanted a girl on the cover to attract eyes. The actual game has no ladies to save. [[http://legacy.3drealms.com/news/2006/03/the_apogee_legacy_12.html Read about it here.]]

* Parodied in an ad for ''VideoGame/AdventureQuestWorlds''. The ad starts off showing the silhouette of a brave knight striking a heroic pose. The slogan "Slay free" then pops up. The knight is then shown in full, revealing that he is only wearing underwear. He drops to cover himself, and the words "Quest indiscreetly" appear, parodying Evony's tag. To drive the point home, a certainly-far-more-armored-than-normal-for-this-trope-but-still-rather-ChainmailBikini'd woman pops out from the surrounding trees with the speech bubble, "Pants, my lord?"
* An ad has been seen on this wiki for a trading card game called Ancient Summoner, showing a scantily-clad anime girl with the slogan "Wanna get tough? Then let's [[DoubleEntendre play rough]] with her to fight against the evils!" Oddly reminiscent of Wartune's "Love can dispel darkness! Make love against the darkness with her now!" slogan...
* ''League of Angels'' zigzags this trope. On the one hand, it uses blatant FanService ({{Shower Scene}}s, {{Panty Shot}}s, etc.) to advertise for a browser-based MMO. On the other hand, most of these ladies are actually in the game (aside from some gratuitous {{Gainaxing}} and JigglePhysics added into the character portraits for the ads.) It is more like a case of NeverTrustATrailer; the lovely girls are in the game, it just lacks the gratuitous FanService the ads would suggest. Old adverts, however, play the trope entirely straight by using pictures of girls from ''other games''.

* Promotional material for ''Big Bang Empire'' refers to as a triple-X game and is covered in topless women. Truthfully, if you play on an adult website, you're going to get a few brief topless scenes, and on Facebook it's completely free of nudity.
* Zig-zagged in the case of ''VideoGame/RuneScape''. NPC heroine Linza the Blacksmith was ''intended'' to appear in-game as a fellow adventurer like the player, complete with her own quest series, but all of her quests ended up in DevelopmentHell, so for years the she only ever appeared in advertisements and the odd cameo, flaunting her cleavage and bare arms. In May 2016 the quest "Kindred Spirits" was finally green-lit to star Linza... [[InvertedTrope and was advertised as a quest about the Barrows Brothers instead]].

* Naava Daishan was one of the most prominent characters in the promotional materials for the first ''Kohan'' game, appearing in the order info in the demo, and all over the website. While she's available in the game, her role in the story before the second game (where she's the main character) is zero.

* An ad featured on this very wiki for a game called Call of Roma ''goes even further than Evony'' by featuring a scantily clad woman and advertising that you are "one click away from a Roman orgy." It's a turn based strategy game. Later, they replaced "orgy" with "empire"... briefly. Apparently it's a tradition they established when they called their game Caesary.
* ''Wartune'' takes this even further by outright ''claiming'' to be a pornographic game. It has scantily clad ladies in every single one of its ads (including many that appear on this wiki), uses slogans like "Your body is my party... Let's get it started!", and later added that they've [[RatedMForMoney apparently been rated "Adults Only"]] by the ESRB, and is for [[AllMenArePerverts "Male Gamers Only"]]. A brief search of the ESRB website shows that no such rating has been issued. (This actually got the company in legal trouble, since the ESRB holds a trademark on their ratings icons so companies can't use them to lie about the contents of their games - ''exactly what ''Wartune'' was using them for''.)

* Used as a critical plot point in ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph''. [[spoiler:Vanellope is featured prominently in the ''Sugar Rush'' cabinet art despite that she's supposedly a glitch and allegedly not supposed to even be in the game. This is what clues Ralph in that King Candy's hiding something and ultimately leads to the latter's plan derailing. In the end it actually proves to be a hint to an even bigger reveal: that Vanellope is the ''true'' ruler of ''Sugar Rush''.]]

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] InUniverse in Piers Anthony's ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' novel ''Demons Don't Dream'' - Dug's friend gives him a game, and Dug figures that the attractive lady on the front (Nada Naga) is just put on there to sell the game to poor sops who think she'll be in it. Turns out she is, in fact, actually in it, as the character who introduces the player to the game and as one of the possible companion characters.

* The teaser for ''Literature/BoredOfTheRings'' talks of Frito's seduction by a "voluptuous elf maiden" who does not appear in the book at all. This is really a legitimate {{parody}} of the trope, or at least of the sex-sells mindset in general, though — after all, the whole book is a parody.

* Technotronic's ''Pump Up the Jam'' was credited to "Technotronic featuring Felly" - Felly was actually the model on the front of the record and fake frontwoman for the act, whilst the actual vocals were done by the (also female) rapper Ya Kid K.
* This happens in the staid world of classical music too: one edition of the ''Symphonie Fantastique'' by Berlioz has a cover depicting a strikingly attractive naked woman who occupies centre-stage on the 12" sleeve. This despite the fact that the five movements of ''SF'' depict the protagonist's descent into depression, despair and mental illness: while the piece was inspired by unrequited love on the part of the composer, nothing in it is to do with sex and nudity. It is the ''absence'' of the object of love that drives the music. '''[[http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/hector_berlioz/symphonie_fantastique__halle_orchestra_james_loughran_/ She's here]]'''.

* Perhaps the most infamous non-{{Fanservice}} example is ''VideoGame/HuntDownTheFreeman'', in which [[spoiler:the ''title character'' Gordon Freeman, despite being heavily featured in the game's promotional material, does not appear at all in the main story, except as a cameo in an optional and easily missable NonStandardGameOver sequence (as a hallucination).]]

* All the issues of ''ComicBook/{{Marville}}'', except for the first, has an almost nude woman on the cover, who is never seen in the actual story. (though [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/518G50TVW9L._SX313_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg an alternate for the first cover]], which was reused in the paperback, at least could be one of the main characters, Mickey, given she starts the series as a taxi driver)

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': Hawkeye appears in the Comic-Con teaser poster, but doesn't show up in the final film.

* The freakish human-like creature with screaming human mouths for eyes on the poster for the American remake of ''Film/OneMissedCall'' doesn't appear anywhere in the film.

* ''ComicBook/{{Marville}}'', for all of them except for the first, they have an almost nude woman on the cover. Despite this, the woman was never an actual character. (though [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/518G50TVW9L._SX313_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg an alternate for the first cover]], which was reused in the paperback, at least could be one of the main characters, Mickey, given she starts the series as a taxi driver)

** The sequel, ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' takes this up a notch in a male version, as Hawkeye appearing in the Comic-Con teaser poster, but not showing up in the final film.

* A trailer for EA-published multiplayer game ''Knockout City'' in the February 17, 2021 Nintendo Direct featured multiple characters -- including an ogre, a woman in a mech suit, a soldier, and a sassy princess named Princess Charm (who is depicted as a 2D sprite rather than 3D) -- talking about leading their team to victory and the like, implying that they were playable characters in said game. Turns out they were literally ''players'' of the game, and the game was actually a battle royale-styled dodgeball game. The BaitAndSwitch left many viewers disappointed, although Princess Charm has received plenty of fan art.

* The "recruitment posters" for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''[='s=] Grand Companies caused a small bit of confusion on some forums because that [[http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/company/twinadder/index.html one poster]] (presumably a parody of ''[[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/la/delacroix.html Liberty Leading Her People]]'') kept being mistaken for a depiction of the Company's commander, Kan-E-Senna, and people were upset that "wasn't showing up in the game." Kan-E-Senna actually resembles a young teenager, and is a different person from the woman in the poster. Fun fact: the woman on the poster is actually one of the twelve gods of Eorzea, Nophica.

** Averted with ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', however, which features Catalina on the cover, on account of her being the BigBad.

* ''Series/TheMagicians'': The first season's promo ads featured either Quentin (who was one of the main characters), or a random girl floating on her back (who, needless to say, was not). This is averted in later seasons, where the ads would feature the entire main cast.

* There is an action MMORPG game called ''VideoGame/ScarletBlade'' that ''[[AvertedTrope actually does]]'' [[ImprobablyFemaleCast have a cast made almost entirely of sexy girls]], although the ads are reminiscent of this, with a slogan being "[[NotSafeForWork NSFW:]] [[FunWithAcronyms Not Safe For Wimps]]".

* The cover art for ''LightNovel/HennekoTheHentaiPrinceAndTheStonyCat'' depicts two blushing, bikini-clad [[CatGirl catgirls]] [[SkinshipGrope snuggling suggestively]]. Though the two girls in question '''do''' appear in the anime, the scene depicted never happens, neither of them is a CatGirl outside of fantasy sequences (and never both at once), and they are not in a sexual relationship (though one of them might like to be). Also, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the younger of the two girls is]] [[EmotionlessGirl incapable of expressing her emotions]] [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor due to her wish]], and as such shouldn't be able to blush.

* The cover art for ''LightNovel/HentaiOujiToWarawanaiNeko'' depicts two blushing, bikini-clad [[CatGirl catgirls]] [[SkinshipGrope snuggling suggestively]]. Though the two girls in question '''do''' appear in the anime, the scene depicted never happens, neither of them is a CatGirl outside of fantasy sequences (and never both at once), and they are not in a sexual relationship (though one of them might like to be). Also, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the younger of the two girls is]] [[EmotionlessGirl incapable of expressing her emotions]] [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor due to her wish]], and as such shouldn't be able to blush.

* ''Forge of Empires'' is another one using explicit but untrue claims of pornographic content. One ad on a torrent website touts the "World's First Online Sex Game" and shows a naked CGI woman with her legs held apart by goblinoid hands, her vagina and anus gaping. Following the link leads to a page showing two more realistic naked CGI women in the scissor sexual position, and the signup form. A few Forge of Empires ads show and promise gay porn instead, making them a rare [[GenderInvertedTrope male example]].

* ''Rise of Mythos'', another game advertised on this very Wiki, combines this trope with unintentional comedy by using images lifted from another game -- namely, ''VideoGame/KantaiCollection''. Even if you ''don't'' know that the young woman in the ad is the [[MoeAnthropomorphism Moe Personification]] of a Japanese WWII battleship, you might find yourself asking why a teen girl in a SailorFuku is being used to advertise a medieval fantasy-based game[[note]]Making it even funnier, they used fan-favorite character Shimakaze, making it more likely that someone will notice the plagarism[[/note]].

The practice of putting sexy women on the box art and in advertisements for video games without her actually ''appearing'' in the game, or only appearing in a very minor, unmemorable role that doesn't warrant such front-and-center visibility. SexSells, logic be damned. It can be seen as especially odd if the game features several significant female characters who could have been used instead, but it doesn't really matter who the girl is. She is there only to attract the MaleGaze, due to the assumption that [[MostGamersAreMale most gamers are (heterosexual) men]]. Once he sees what the game is about and decides whether or not to buy it, her job is done.