I think you're doing Bully a little bit of a disservice there sharky, in that it was surprisingly progressive. It was the first game I ever played with an LGBTQ main character and it wasn't played for laughs. You could just go around making out with boys, or girls, or both, or neither, and it was no big thing. The school was also diverse - especially considering it was a private school - and students weren't just pigeonholed. You had black students who were nerds, greasers and spoiled rich kids, and not just jocks.

I do agree that the stereotypes are a little dated, having borrowed heavily from the 80's John Hughes era of jocks, nerds, preps, etc. and that it might be hard to pull off today. I guess today's equivalent is your Netflix Teen meme drama, and as those are more serious and tackle issues such as gender identity, that wouldn't really be something to parody.

As far as GTA/The Last of Us goes, I actually remember the endless rage and threats to boycott on GameFAQs because the main character of GTA San Andreas was a black man. I guess some things never change! GTA itself as a whole has though, shifting away from mob and gangster movies and into being something more like a South Park lite. "Ooh, isn't modern life vapid and empty!" I think, if any franchise could get away with it, GTA could, keeping in mind that it satirises all comers and not just any one side.

I have a somewhat cynical view of TLOU2 and its controversy. It should go without saying but I'll say it anyway, the people getting upset about Ellie, Abby and Lev are hateful and pathetic, and I think some self-reflection about their insecurities is something they urgently need. I actually think that Naughty Dog knew exactly what it was doing though, and deliberately wanted to stoke controversy to push sales of their game. I might be wrong, and I also might be skewed because I think the writers think their game is a lot deeper and more clever than it actually is. To be fair though, regardless of their motivations you're correct that they are on the right side of this, and more diverse casts in gaming media is something that must be strived for.