This is just the story that just won’t seem to go away, much to the dismay of Ubisoft. Right after E3 last month, there began to be a major outcry based on the lack of any playable female assassin’s in the upcoming co-op game Assassin’s Creed Unity. Ubisoft claimed it would have been way too much work and the decision was made based on that. Now, a very popular name in gaming right now, Ashley Johnson, better known as Ellie from The Last of Us, has weighed in on this situation with Assassin’s Creed Unity and needless to say, she isn’t happy.
Johnson spoke with VideoGamer about this and said she was coming from not only an actress’ standpoint, but also as a female gamer.
- “Assassin’s Creed: Unity is a great example of when I saw the gameplay and saw that [in] their multiplayer you do not have the option to play as a female. I was like, ‘Give me a f**king break! It’s 2014! How many video games do you have to make to realise maybe have an option to have a female be in there?’ And maybe not just on PS Vita.
- “But it did make me upset. There are so many female gamers…I don’t know what the percentage is at this point but there are a lot of females that play video games and it would be nice to see stronger females in a game that are not just the damsel in distress, the love interest or she’s oversexualised. She doesn’t even necessarily have to be a badass. Just like a normal female character.”
She went on a little further to say that she believes even males need better treatment in many games, on a broader spectrum. The Last of Us’ Troy Baker, who voiced Joel, praised Naughty Dog specifically on their treatment of women in games, and said he just hopes games do not start adding obligatory female characters to have them there because of marketing, because that would be even more disrespectful.
It will be quite interesting to see how Ubisoft responds with future entries in the series after Assassin’s Creed Unity, as they already have a target marked on their back from this incident.
