My lady friend doesn’t want to play anything that makes her play as a dude if she can avoid it. She does sometimes but she has a strong preference for games featuring female protagonists. She did enjoy playing as Geralt though
What the Witcher games do really well is having female protagonists but not necessarily a female playable character. All the Witcher games aren't about Geralt per se, but about Triss, Yenneffer, Shani, Adda, etc. but most importantly Cirilla, she's the pivot point of all the games. Geralt is essentially just a vessel for the player to guide us through a world that is much bigger than him filled with drawn out characters of which most important ones happen to be women.
It matters so much. As a straight, white, cis male, I'm so glad that kids these days of all backgrounds have representation in media.
Not only does it make for a much better variety of stories and styles, but it gives kids proper role models and lets them know that there are other people out there like them. The difference in this aspect between now and the 90s is unbelievable, and I really hope we don't backslide too much...