Earlier today we reported on the news that Ubisoft had removed the option to play as a female assassin in Assassin's Creed: Unity. The decision sparked uproar in some quarters, leading Ubisoft to send the following statement to Kotaku.
We recognize the valid concern around diversity in video game narrative. Assassin's Creed is developed by a multicultural team of various faiths and beliefs and we hope this attention to diversity is reflected in the settings of our games and our characters.
Assassin's Creed Unity is focused on the story of the lead character, Arno. Whether playing by yourself or with the co-op Shared Experiences, you the gamer will always be playing as Arno, complete with his broad range of gear and skill sets that will make you feel unique.
With regard to diversity in our playable Assassins, we've featured Aveline, Connor, Adewale and Altair in Assassin's Creed games and we continue to look at showcasing diverse characters. We look forward to introducing you to some of the strong female characters in Assassin's Creed Unity.
Following on from that, former Ubisoft man and ex-Assassin's designer Jonathan Cooper weighed into the debate, suggesting that the Ubisoft's claims weren't - in his opinion - correct.
"In my educated opinion, I would estimate this to be a day or two's work," said Cooper on Twitter. "Not a replacement of 8000 animations."
He then went on to Tweet: "Man, if I had a dollar for every time someone at Ubisoft tried to bullshit me on animation tech" and "Aveline de Grandpré shares more of Connor Kenway's animations than Edward Kenway does."
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