If this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo is anything to go by then it seems that co-operative gameplay is about to become the next big thing in next-gen gaming. The biggest surprise however came from Ubisoft, who revealed that the biggest jewel in their gem-stuffed crown is set to include a four-player co-op campaign. But not everyone was wowed by Assassin’s Creed new multiplayer innovation however when it was revealed the game would not include playable female avatars.
Assassin’s Creed Unity moves the historical stealth series to revolutionary eighteenth century France and introduces its newest protagonist, Arno Dorian to the franchise. The entire campaign can be played with up to four players, with each player controlling Dorian on their screen, but appearing as a customized male assassin avatar on their friend’s.
Understandably, female fans of the series are feeling rather let down. When the news broke, creative director Alex Amancio defended the decision, suggesting that such a feat would require “double the animations,” and “double the voices,” culminating in “a lot of extra production work.”
Since these revelations, fellow developers questioned Ubisoft’s choice. Even Assassin’s Creed 3 animation director Jonathan Cooper has hit out stating that incorporating female character models would only be “a day or two’s work.” The question is why weren’t female avatars included right from the get-go?
In what was once considered a male dominated medium, female characters have featured in some of gaming’s most treasured memories. Classic side-scrolling beat ‘em ups such as Golden Axe or Streets of Rage always featured a lady in their rosters while modern role-playing games such as Borderlands, Mass Effect or Skyrim enjoyed success amongst both sexes because they featured stories that weren’t gender specific.
Last year, the critically acclaimed Tomb Raider reboot was well received by both sexes, particularly for giving pixelated pin-up Lara Croft a proper motive and a much more mature redesign. Similarly, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us split playable duties between the male Joel and the female Ellie, both of which helped it earn “game of the year” status from most video game publications. Yet, it still sounds quite shocking that only 4% of games in 2013 included playable female characters.
One entry in the Assassin’s Creed series, sub-titled Liberation, actually put a female heroine in the leading role. Creole assassin Aveline de Grandpre seemed to demonstrate a step forward in gaming, by one of the industry’s leading publishers as it brought the first female playable character to a series that had since only featured men.
What’s even more surprising is that many of Aveline’s animations were copied directly from Assassin’s Creed 3 protagonist Connor Kenway, somewhat adding further invalidity to Ubisoft’s statement that including female avatars would be too much work.
As the spiritual successor to zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, Turtle Head Studios’ Evolve puts you in the role of one of four monster hunters as you take on a fifth player who controls an ever-evolving monster. Similarly, Lionhead Studios seek to transform the normally single player fantasy Fable into a quest fit for a fellowship in Fable Legends. Both games include female characters right from the offset. So what’s Ubisoft’s problem?
It can’t be about the sales. 48% of video game players are female. Of course, there’s more to fair representation than simply adding a few women characters. But now that I think about it, I’ve never heard a publisher actively declare they were omitting an entire gender from their game, even if it is a far too regular occurrence these days. But even if this is another shameful marketing tactic, it may just the scandal needed to put a pin in the all too obvious sexist attitudes that the gaming industry’s boys club are guilty of far too often.
