In recent weeks, reports of a toxic workplace at Ubisoft have surfaced, leading to the resignation ofChief Creative Officer Serge Hascoet. He had the power to change, greenlight, or cancel any creative projects, with there being the strange indication of “gate” meetings where he was the “gatekeeper.” His ousting, if followed up properly, may lead to some real change at Ubisoft, but at the very least for now, many are speaking up about the representation of theAssassin’s Creedfranchise’s female characters, most recentlyAssassin’s Creed Unity’s Elise.
As it turns out, there were multiple women throughout the franchise who were reduced or underrepresented. The voice actress behindAssassin’s Creed Syndicate’s Evie, for example, recently spoke up about the sexism she experienced at Ubisoft. On top of that, it turns out that in the most recent franchise entry,Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, was originally meant to only have one protagonist: Kassandra. It seems Alexios was a sort-of invention to drive home a point that “women don’t sell.”
RELATED:Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Evie VA Speaks Out on Ubisoft Sexism
It’s unknown how far back this goes really, but it apparently influenced 2014’sAssassin’s Creed Unity. Many may remember the debacle where Ubisoft wasn’t adding female Assassins to the game’s multiplayer because of the additional work and replacement of 8000 animations. At the time,Assassin’s Creed 3animator Jonathan Cooper comment that he estimated it would be a day or two’s worth of work and certainly not as extensive as it was presented.
Now, Cooper has revealed that at the following GDC, theUnityanimation team informed him thatElisewas made playable, seemingly as part of this multiplayer segment, and was made so in under one hour. The decision to not include playable female characters such as Elise came straight from Paris Editorial alone.
Given thatAssassin’s Creed Syndicate(which featured a playable Jacob andEvie Frye), it’s worth wondering if this was meant to be more than just multiplayer at some point. Elise was a big part of Arno’s story, but she should have been and could have easily been more.
Moving forward, one can only hope that Ubisoft makes the right moves to correct this toxic culture. It’s announced a lot of plans, but soon it’ll be time to see those plans in action. There’s no doubt that hype forAssassin’s Creed Valhallais at an all-time high, but it’s hard not to see it within this light now. The gender-change mechanic of the game may have just been for this purpose and not really important as a whole.
Assassin’s Creed Valhallareleases June 30, 2025, for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
