More devs speak out regarding Assassin's furore

Rhianna Pratchett and more offer their thoughts on the matter.
Text: Mike Holmes
Published 2014-06-12

Yesterday we reported that Ubisoft made the decision to cut female assassins from Assassin's Creed: Unity, and the news sparked a reaction from across the industry (to which Ubisoft responded thus).

Since then it has emerged that another Triple-A title from the publisher - Far Cry 4 - is also going to skip adding the option to play as a female character, provoking another round of debate.

As part of the discussion, several voices from around the industry have offered up their opinions on the matter.

Ex-Assassin's designer Jonathan Cooper said on Twitter: "In my educated opinion, I would estimate this to be a day or two's work. Not a replacement of 8000 animations."

He then went on to add: "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."

Tomb Raider writer Rhianna Pratchett Tweeted: "If Saints Row can have female customisable characters then not having them isn't a 'reality of development' it's just a crappy decision."

David Goldfarb of Payday 2 fame Tweeted one good reason for greater inclusion: "More women characters in games will equal more women players."

5th Cell's Tom Borrelli (Scribblenauts) said: "As an industry, we need to be more inclusive, and that means planning up front, not shoehorning it in later," as well as saying: "Another thing- go out and watch people. You'll find many women and men move EXACTLY THE SAME WAY. Hips, arms, wrists and all."

Another interesting point came from Joakim Sandberg (The Iconoclasts), who suggested the following: "Use some money on a woman's rig instead of 10 CG trailers."

Whatever your personal opinions on the matter, it's clearly a divisive issue. It'll be interesting to see how the public reaction influences Ubisoft's planning in the future.

What's also interesting is that this debate has landed on the doorstep of Assassin's Creed, which is actually one of the more diverse series in gaming when it comes to lead characters.

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