The Last of Us' Ashley Johnson angry over lack of female characters in Assassin's Creed: Unity

VideoGamer: The Last of Us voice actress Ashley Johnson has criticised Ubisoft for failing to include playable female characters in Assassin's Creed: Unity and called for developers to include "stronger females that are not just the damsel in distress, the love interest or oversexualised".

[randomass171]

Can't say I blame her. I mean she played one of the best female video game characters in the last decade. Were I in her shoes I'd probably be frustrated with that news too.

[XB1_PS4]

Once there are a lot of women devs in the industry, that's when you'll see a balance. Right now it's mostly men making what they know best.

[Baka-akaB]

Except female producers and devs will still provide what sells on the market or the story they just wanna tell .

You saw the same phenomenon for a while , and still to some extent , within mainstream superhero comics . Just because the writer or main artist is female , doesnt mean they'll do the gender justice or that they care to .

[XboxDD]

@Baka-akaV
Nor they need to care about it. All these political correct nutties need to learn how to let people do it the way they are comfortable with it.

[Baka-akaB]

People forget that while a big business now , gaming is still an art driven medium . You dont command art to be just fair and push equal rights and portrayal for everyone

[Eonjay]

@XB1_PS4
http://www.dualshockers.com...
http://cdn3.dualshockers.co...

You don't know what you are talking about.
The premise that there aren't woman in the industry is a false premise and you are wrong.

On the surface it looks like you make a good argument, but what do people on gaming websites really know about the industry?

[Gohadouken]

Well some want to believe the worst "offenders" in their narrow views in the matter of gender equality , or even "sexual objectification" , are solely men .

The majority might be , sure , but plenty women are content with designing male heroes , writting about them , or depicting sexy women . It's not some sisterhood solidarity based system .

[assdan]

There's already a lot of female devs. It doesn't make sense how there aren't more females at this point.

[DragonKnight]

Looks like someone is just hopping on a bandwagon.

Too many people remain willfully ignorant of the systems in place for Assassin's Creed Unity. Too many people are accusing Ubisoft, a development studio that DEFINES diversity, of being sexist. I pity her, and any who share her opinion because they choose to ignore facts and focus on emotionally driven responses.

[badz149]

@XB1_PS4

"Right now it's mostly men making what they know best."

it's like you're saying most men know more about biceps, abs and being a hero than knowing about women. I disagree :-P

[Dee_91]

I would like to play with a female character more often, does it bother me to the point of anger.. hell no.Not that serious

[Michiel1989]

I really couldn't care less which gender i play in a game. If its a cool female character thats fine, if its a cool male caracter thats fine also.

She kind of contradicts herself tho, she talks about making female characters without being oversexualized, damsel in distress etc. Then she says that they should just put a female character in Unity. If they would put in a female character now it would be just that...just for the hell of putting a female as playable char..... Let devs make their games, they make THEIR game, stop trying to force things into games because of because.

[Ares84HU]

My favorite games of all time are the Tomb Raider games which has a female lead.

Now that being said, not every game needs to have a female lead and there is no reason to be angry because of that other than being a sexist, feminist, what today being considered is "politically correct" ass.

This lady should keep her remakrs to herself. It shows how dumb she is.

[solar]

Political Correctness sucks.

[brave27heart]

I think the argument isnt about wether a Dev should be forced to include women in games, but where they choose not to what are their reasons for that, and when they do whats their motive.

Too many devs, or more likely publishers, believe a female lead harms sales. They see gaming as a male audience who react better to male protagonists. Thats an outdated opinion that needs to change.

Likewise when women are included they are too often oversexualised and are there as eye candy. They form a plot point - rescue the woman, take revenge for your murdered wife, all clichéd roles that demote women to lesser roles in society. Which leads to a generation of people continuing on that line of thinking (see the comments in this thread alone that inequality "isnt an issue" or "has no place in gaming".

The reality is things are better, much better actually, and more games are getting it right than those that get it wrong. Cod Ghosts allows female characters in MP but doesnt shoehorn them into single player for the sake if it. Thats a good example of thinking about the problem and coming to a solution that doesnt infinge on their artistic license.

I think AC Unity is getting a hard time because of the way they announced it. Their reasoning is okay in my mind, I can see the logic and their history with including women in games suggests its not a sexist decision, but they announced it like douches and that garnered them flack I dont think they deserve.

[rdgneoz3]

@brave. AC has had a female asassin, a black assassin, and a Muslim assassin, so they've had diversity. The female's sales were so "great" they gave it away with black flag for free, which not many reviews of black flag even mentioned. Also, there have been female skins in the (wolf pack or competitive) mp, so they're in the same boat as cod..

And @ares above. Lara croft in the beginning was toothpick thin and had double Ds. She was designed for guys.

[TheSaint]

When there are frontline infantry that are women, Formula 1 drivers that are women, top flight footballers that are women, then maybe we will see more, but until that day then this is what is reflected in society.

People vote with their wallets.

[ZoidsRaven]

I would blame her.
She should have done some research before giving her opinion on the subject.

Adding a female character in AC:U is pointless because you wouldn't be able to play as said female. 7_7

[user5669510]

She was better off worrying about having games more focus towards women gamers . It hard enough for a man to know what women want you think a industry dominant ed by men going to know how to make a great female character. I think we need more female dev teams that can make the game they want to , instead all these brofest games. I think mostly women can get more women to become gamers. They know what they like more than us

I'm sure many of us had a gf had a gf or female friend ask why we play these games ( pointing at these shooters) or only want to watch instead of playing . A lot of chicks I know play a lot of the sims and MMOs and Nintendo games.

I'm not saying all and I'm not saying that there isn't female devs. I'm just saying we need more dev teams focus on bring more female focus games. But that's all politics. We know why with these big publishers. That's one of the reasons I like the surge of devs forming their own company and doing kick starters. Hopefully we see a female dominant company that's focus on games for females to see if they can bring something fresh to the industry

[2cents]

As much as I understand the feminine side of the argument, people don't stop for a second to think that plain old boring characters don't make for an enjoyable game.

I agree that unity should have had some badass female assassins, but her quote "stronger females that are not just the damsel in distress, the love interest or over sexualised" I don't really get.

Every single game that has a male protagonist is always a character that men would normally aspire to in some way, be it morality, strength, conviction, style. Never is it because the character is a normal, run of the mill male character that has no discernable physical or emotional traits.

when the game is heavily story driven then normal characters can work, like TLOU, Alan wake, Silent Hill(2 especially) its much easier to relate to a simple character when the story is sombre and serious.

but for action, rpg, fps etc we want exciting flamboyant and over the top characters to jazz up the experience. Eg. Bayonetta, heavenly sword, god of war, gears of war, final fantasy, duke nukem. These games need physically strong, costume wearing, flesh flashing, one line delivering stereotypes that have no place in the real world. Which is why we play games with these characters in them. Its fun.

If the style and taste fits the game and its narrative then the more ridiculous the better.

There are a lack of female protagonists in games yes, but if the market desires it, it will happen. Now more and more people become 'gamers' the developers will need to cater to maturing tastes. But... There is a place for all types of characters in games. If the next bayonetta was a mild mannered mature woman the game would be booooring. Just like if kratos donned a shirt and tie for his next butchery people would be like wtf?

But the next tomb raider shows these signs of maturity that I mentioned, as the new lara is far more human than her balloon meloned predecessor. Times change.

[Neonridr]

man I thought I recognized her from the Growing Pains.. lol

[optimus]

That's right, i thought she looked familiar. I always wondered what happened to her. She certainly aged well...but she does have a point though.

[-Foxtrot]

She does realise in the multiplayer you will get to play as female, all AC games which have had multiplayer lets you choose female characters.

However the co-op side of the single player doesn't let you be a female because if there is four of you on screen EVERYONE OF YOU is Arno while your friends looks like generic Assassins on your screen

Point is even if you could select a female for co-op, you wouldn't see it on your screen.

[paidadvertiser]

You do realize that they've already confirmed that there is no competitive multiplayer in Unity since they want to focus on the co-op aspect? Do you actually read the articles posted here or just comment on as many as you can?

http://n4g.com/news/1529773...

[-Foxtrot]

I was actually making a reference that Ubisoft have done female characters before....so you know...don't get you panties in a twist.

[DragonKnight]

Foxtrot, there is no female option in AC Unity due to the fact that the multiplayer is based on Watch Dogs' mechanics. That makes it impossible to have female avatars unless you change the protagonist to female.

[cleft5]

"But it did make me upset. There are so many female gamers...," she continued. "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."

All she is saying is that it was annoying that there is no female character to play in their multiplayer and she would like to see it there. That's it, she isn't demonizing them but using her voice to speak up so this is less likely to happen again. Like you said, you don't even see the character when you select them... so why not have the option there for those that want it. Personally I like playing the female character in multiplayer so it sucks for me that the option isn't there.

If people don't complain about the things that bother them than how will companies know that they have done something wrong. If no one complained about the Xbox One we would be stuck with archaic drm, mandatory Kinect, and no option to play used games. She has a voice and she is using it, this is a good thing. She didn't call anyone sexist or overract, she is just openly saying she wants the option to play a female character in the multiplayer, not a big deal. The reality is that companies do listen and a lot of people, not just women, feel the same way but they don't have her popularity. Good for her, too many people are afraid to voice their opinion and just sit back and silently be angry.

[Gohadouken]

Except it does look more she is reacting to the perceived controversity at hand , rather than fully knowing the subject .

Basically she read or heard that "Damn ubi soft doesnt want us to have female models in mp , that's so sexist!!" . When as they said it serves no purpose for them to waste money on a complete set of animation , when the concept and story is made to see Arno and a few guys , each players "believing" to be Arno .

Would as many people react badly if they were told it doesnt make sense for the game's plot and its concept to have an asian or native american assassin strolling around in Civil War torn France ? I doubt so .

It gets downright ridiculous when we do know Ubisoft published Assassin Creed on Vita with Aveline as a lead character . And always otherwise included female models for competitive mp

[InTheLab]

Don't waste your time. Anytime a woman does anything like this the community of Insecure boys charge in and downvote common sense post like these.

[DragonKnight]

"Like you said, you don't even see the character when you select them... so why not have the option there for those that want it."

Uh, do you realize how wrong your opinion is based on that statement? Look into Watch Dogs' multiplayer and you should see why, but let me explain it to you.

AC Unity's multiplayer is only co-op and is partly seamless. When you're playing the game, you are playing as Arno who is the protagonist. When you want people to co-op with you, they enter your single player campaign to help you out. You'll remain as Arno, but you'll see them as a generic model based off of Arno's model. When they enter your game, they do so as Arno themselves because they are playing their own game. No matter who is playing the game, they will always see themselves as Arno.

So if there were female models, you'd never see yourself as one because Arno is not female, he's male. So unless the multiplayer were genericized, or Arno was changed to Arnette, what everyone is complaining about remains impossible.

"If people don't complain about the things that bother them than how will companies know that they have done something wrong."

This isn't wrong. It's a development choice. The personal attitudes and opinions of individuals are irrelevant and not a moral, or ethical measurement. Ubisoft hasn't done anything wrong, so they have no reason to feel like they have.

[uth11]

Why not be upset at the industry in general for this?

When you single out Assassin's Creed Unity for this, you look like a bandwagon-jumper.

[Baka-akaB]

Ubisoft singled itself out , by commenting the way they did on the matter . It was refreshingly candid ... as they said out loud what most big publishers thinks on the subject of games gender and demographics , but still wouldnt be well received .

[uth11]

only because they tried giving an explaination that people didn't like. What excuses would the rest of the industry give?

nobody cares because nobody asked.

[Baka-akaB]

Dont get me wrong , i dont agree that the game should get flak for it . But i'm just not surprise by the backlash given their past comments . It's so easy to flame , be it within or outside the context .

Of course people will also forget how they did try having a female lead for an assassin creed game . And not such a minor spin off as believed , as most of its mechanics and ideas translated into new gameplay features for Blackflag and future games

[Eamon]

The whole thing is overblown.

The 3 co-op characters are not actually characters. Every player will see theirs as Arno anyway.

It's basically not too different to Ezio's assassins that you could call up in AC2-ACR. Except in Unity they can be used as co-op partners.

[Ogygian]

I respect Ubisoft for sticking to their guns on the issue and not letting a few loud people shouting and screaming change things for all of us.

I didn't buy Dead Island because of the characters, all of which were poor. Meanwhile, my friends (all male) and I used to pull straws to see who had to play Rochelle.

If she wants more female characters, why not start a fund to support studios which put them in games? At the end of the day, if she's really going to fight for something, she has to be prepared to give something up to achieve it.

It's like the whole Kony thing. If the internet really cared, we would have stopped "liking" and "sharing" posts and would instead have poured money towards a PMC tasked with going into Uganda and capturing the man.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

except Nintendo been gender-equality for all of their multiplayer games

[Zero-One]

I'm getting rather annoyed of this whole agenda of non-sense. A video game is suppose to entertain you. Not be some equal rights b.s.

[ion666]

your absolutely right .It created from someone's idea ,and made with others who share the dream. I did'nt realize you needed p.r. for an art form.

[ion53]

Holy crap ion666... You have my name O_o

[ion666]

I'm pretty sure I'm the original lol.

[liquidhalos]

I only wish I was allowed to bubble up and agree more than once per comment. I hate that gaming is now turning into an equal rights argument platform. It's the Devs creation. It's their artistic vision to entertain us, not a reason to start burning bras. Focus on equal rights in REALITY and not in a fantasy world created with pixels.

I'd love to see gender stats for gamers, console and pc, the type of gamers who play assassins creed, cod, battlefield. Core gamers. Not mobile.

On a side note, I think it's absolutely disgusting and offensive that bubble witch saga 2 doesn't have a male character to play as.

[brave27heart]

Like it or not, there is gender equality in the world. As a guy, im guessing you dont experience that, but trust me, its true. And like it or not, games, like tv, film and music, influence peoples thinking. So its absolutely right that gaming should be looking at itself as an industry and fighting inequality where it can.

Note, thats "where it can". Personally I think AC Unity made a design decision and they can back that up with a reasonable argument as to why theres no playable female characters. I also think they've been generally very good in including women in games, which ironically is probably harming them now its taken out.

But, we can all think of games where women are scantily clad oversexualused two dimensional tokens and that does nothing but reinforce the sexualisation and objectification of women which is prevelant in the media today.

My opinion is those people slamming AC Unity are doing so unfairly, but those saying equality has no place in gaming need to wake up. Equality has a place in everything.

[liquidhalos]

If you think pixilated people are real enough to deserve sympathy for being shown as sexualized objects then I have to ask this question. How does your conscience cope with killing people in shooting games? Do you suffer remorse when you run pedestrians over in gta type games? Or is your mind able to cope with realising that it's all make believe. You can't pick and choose. If you want equal rights in games then you have to respect human rights too. Stop killing people, it's not right.

[MegaRay]

Nah, she just want more female characters so she can voice one of them and get some $$$

[RichardDawkins]

I agree. You want female characters in the game?? Make a studio full of females and make a game. Not that hard.

[skulz7]

OMG I am sorry but people are so stupid. The reason there are no females is that everyone plays as Arno in the game. Its not an RPG where you create your own character. Everyone is Arno, just like everyone in Watch Dogs is Aiden on your screen!

Did GTA 5 have this much opposition over its 3 main characters with not 1 female?

No.

[q8kik]

Because those three men in GTA5 were criminals so i guess they were happy about not having a female protagonist in that game.
cuz u know men are evil lol

[bass4g]

You do realize that there was quite a lot of chatter around the time of GTA V's release relating to it's lack of female characters and a perceived attitude towards women expressed in the game. Right? It was just as big of a deal as all this stuff around assassin's creed unity is, it's just in the past so it has since become irrelevant like this will be.

[filipakos]

Is "Angry" the right word for this statement?

[cleft5]

Exactly, she is criticizing them not being enraged over nothing. Too many of these articles are worded in such a way that they immediately set gamers against whoever is making the comment.

[randomass171]

Well with how the comments are going, it looks like the spin has worked too. :/

[chrissx]

Females shouldn't be forced into games just because its 2014. The devs have their story so this chick needs to calm down

[Baka-akaB]

I agree , gaming isnt about pushing some agenda , or advancing society . If a game want a female lead , so be it , if another game wont , so be it

[cleft5]

Read the article, she doesn't go on some self righteous trip and she is plenty calm. Her point is that it's annoying not to have the option to play a female in the multiplayer.

[Gohadouken]

Except she does a bit . It's not solely about that as she mix up everything and does call up at some point for "for developers to include "stronger females that are not just the damsel in distress, the love interest or oversexualised"."

As cynical as it is , they made a decision that saves them money and does fit the narrative of their game and is convenient for it .

[Kavorklestein]

Fuck her stupid opinion. Being in The Last of Us doesn't make her god. If her mind is that shallow and ignorant, then who cares about what she has to say?

I mean, yeah, it's one thing to say she's bummed out that she can't be a female character in AC Unity, but it's another to be all vocally upset and butt hurt about a game she has no design influence over, and has no part to play in it's existence.

[Vandamme21]

She was that little girl in Lionheart

[Soldierone]

People get so upset over it, yet how many of them bought Liberation? (Vita or HD) Or even cared about the Liberation style DLC?

[randomass171]

Wasn't Liberation criticized as a poor installment to Assassin's Creed anyway? Even if the hero is a female, no one wants to play a mediocre game.

[SilentNegotiator]

Huh....it's as if making the main character a specific gender doesn't enhance the game.

[Neo Nugget]

Liberation was unfairly compared to AC3 when it came out, and Liberation HD once again was compared to Black Flag.

If you take it for what its worth, Liberation is a solid game. Plus, Aveline continues to impact the storyline in AC. She's currently helping out Connor while he rebuilds the American brotherhood.

[My_Name_BTW_Is_Dante]

Yeah, screw the developer's vision! They should put in a bunch of females, gays, and minorities regardless if it doesn't makes sense. Developers should NOT have creative freedom! They should be FORCED to add it in!

/s (This means end of sarcasm...I had to be clear about what this meant because I'm sure there are people actually retarded enough to believe what I wrote without me putting this at the end.)

[StrawberryDiesel420]

lol it's true about the sarcasm statement. Morons are everywhere....

[SnakeCQC]

Yes diversity in games suck!!! Lets always play as a white guy running around shooting everything /s

[superherox7]

So what? Why should they try to limit and restrict their creative vision because of you? Stop being so sensetive, not every game needs to have a black man, a gay dude, or a women.

[DasTier]

I really can't understand the mindset of those disagreeing with you...

But it seems those people actually exist.

[bass4g]

She's not asking people to limit their creative vision. She's not saying that every game has to have a minority in it or have women in it. She is literally just saying that it's a bit silly that it's still difficult to find female characters in games. If there were more women in videogames then noone would care about assassin's creed unity and it's not really about that 1 game (if anyone tries to say it is then they're being stupid), indeed they have their reasons for not including a female character. The problem is that the game is indicative of the rest of the industry.

[gamerfan0909]

Well when people say studios should hire more women there's people out there saying omg that's sexist tha bestest person should get the job!!!!!!! Of course there's not going to be video games with strong women characters. Look at who's making the video games. This is why diversity is a good thing and it's why the video game industry puts out so many crap games.

[viper3512]

Look, its not what we want, but clearly Ubisoft had a plan in mind for its story and character that fits Arno well. Get over it and play the multiplayer as a female if you want i guess, Ubisoft can't stick a female in properly now anyways.

[EXVirtual]

People like this should stop pushing there agenda. It's 2014 this, we want women just for the sake of it. Will you grow up. This is why some people hate feminists and are labelled as misogynists.

[Mike_D82]

Wow, shut up. No one cares what she thinks.

[DasTier]

Also this statement is very concerning;

"Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot later responded by saying that the company was "working on" diversifying its characters for future games"

Does that mean they will butcher all the upcoming games they publish and force them to 'diversify'?

A very worrying precedent appears to have been set.

[Baka-akaB]

Nah , i think it's just a PR statement to placate the folks with pitchforks . besides Ubisoft already provided more diversity than most with their games , so it's not as if it would drastically alter their plans

[Gh05t]

But now how can we know for sure. If the next AC has a female main character can you say that is how it was "Planned" or is this now a response, and we will never know the story they had originally planned.

That is the problem with statements like that. It casts doubt and makes them look weak, and like a push over rather than stand and say "Our developers have the freedom to make the game as they see fit."

[brave27heart]

Are you saying that if the next game has a female lead the game will somehow be hindered by that? That it will be a worse game for it?

If they choose to have a female protagonist what difference does that make to the game? Why would it be seen as being "butchered"?

[bass4g]

Yeah, what would happen if their next game were to star a character that wasn't a gruff, stoic, heterosexual white male in their 20-30s? It's totally not like that specific look is used 90% of the time due to "market research". We really need to accept that, out of all mediums gaming (or more accurately AAA gaming) is one of the least auteur driven (that doesn't mean that Auteur's don't exist within the AAA gaming industry). What about the people who WANT to make games with female leads? They are very often told that they can't because the game won't sell. Isn't that closer to butchering than publishers "thinking" about diversity. Chances are we'll never be in a situation where publishers force their devs to make games starring female leads. The only way that would happen is if it suddenly became a lot more profitable than not doing it. What might happen when people complain about these things though is that publishers will see there is an audience that will buy games with female leads and maybe, MAYBE developers will start thinking more about those kinds of characters and there's nothing wrong with creators considering other options. Also it's not like ubi has ever been opposed to diversity in their games. Mainly side games or through DLC and not their big tentpole games but ubisoft do seem to be one of the better publishers on this issue.

[Gezmoyassine]

She's right it's 2014 but that doesn't mean Women have to be included in every single game.You don't hear Men complaining when they are NOT included in a game.And they say women are smarter than Men.

[ironfist92]

It honestly sounds like she'd been given the breifest statemnt on the issue without any insight into the game or developers, and is quick to jump on the bandwagon.

Its been said time and time again EVERYONE plays as Arno on their own screen. There is no Female character because youre only playing as Arno.

People like her and the rest of the feminazis who are quick to jump on Ubisoft and AC about this situation make me disgusted to be a gamer.

[brave27heart]

Can you name a game that doesnt have men in it??? I cant think of one.

[pandaboy]

Only because men are used as cannon fodder as games whereas women seem to be free from this disposability. Though I'm pretty positive Ashley Johnson and the rest of the special privilege brigade are silent on this issue.

[Gezmoyassine]

Hmmm Now that i think about it,No i can't name one.If you ever know of any let me know.

[hkgamer]

i am angry over ubisoft because of the lack of chinese characters. actually i am angry that there is barely any chinese characters in most media. i've heard that almost every hollywood film has a black person to avoid lawsuits. so i want more chinese people in games and movies that isnt a martial arts expert or a maths geek.

[theshredded]

Wow I thought Ellie was played by a nobody,didn't recognize her until now.Anywho I kinda agree.They could've made one of the 4 assassin's a female.

[Baka-akaB]

Except they chose not to , as it makes little sense . Each of you play the role of Arno , while the other players looks like generic assassin fodder that follows you , at least in your screen .

Why would they have used ressources to animated and model further a generic model with the other gender ?

[brave27heart]

Why wouldnt they have used the resources used in making one of the four generic male assassins female? Its not extra work, instead of making three male characters you make one female two male.

Just playing devils advocate.

[Gohadouken]

Uh ? but it is extra work , its a new set of animations to work upon when they already got Arno's , and you really think they create models for the 3 other guys ? No they just tweak existing ones and Arno's

[PrinceOfAllSaiyans]

Oh well. What about the lack of black or Hispanic characters in video games ?

[Gh05t]

Statements like this don't help, you will just bring people out saying we need more of them too.

[sonic989]

i understand your sarcasm yeah really gamers or should i say people these day are EXTREMELY annoying .
you find annoying people at the news annoying people in politics annoying people everywhere and now in games where should i go then LOL .
they just want to be mad about something like oh its a great game BUT WHY NO FEMALES WHY ASIANS WHY NO THIS WHY NO THAT .
and the sad part is they always mention time as if its something shameful like how comes this happen and we are at 20xx and how this and how that .
as if story needs a time to told , Shakespeare's stories back then are as it is right now so whats the point huh really .

[matrixman92]

Do people not know that every character is just seen as Arno anyway. It literally does not matter in any possible way. Arno is the main character of the game, that is who EVERYONE will play is, regardless of being co-op or not. Ubisoft has been pretty inventive in adding females to past multiplayer modes(sadly not in Unity), and they have had a whole game featuring a female asssassin. It is not like they dont care

[Majin-vegeta]

OMFG just stop with this crap.Seriously it's now starting to get on my nerves.If you have a damn problem with a game not having females.Then start your own damn game studio and make a game starring a female lead.Devs shouldn't have to answer to anyone but to themselves.

/End Rant.

[Theyellowflash30]

Stop complaining and play Smash Bros!

1. Lucina
2. Paultena
3. Zero Suit Samus
4. Samus
5. Wii Fit Trailer
6. The Viliager
7. Robin
8. Rosalina
9. Peach
10. Zelda
11. Shiek
12. Mii Fighters

Ubisoft is lame, we all know this. Another rehash that can't even put in female characters? LOL....just wait till Assassin's Creed Unity 2 and there will be female characters. You won't have to wait too long.....its coming out next fall.

[sonic989]

suddenly more females equal better games .
i dont understand why people always like to bring those political issues in games .
i want my games to be created as they were intended to be .
am i annoyed about tomb raider no am i annoyed about devil may cry ( the original one ) also no .
those are what the designers wanted to create as simple as that .
let me give people some history lessons most of the legends and back in the history heroes are males take any time in the history and you will still find males dominating so it makes sense that most heroic stories will be focused around males because in reality its the same thing .
men are known to be courageous powerful etc .
the problem is you cant really create female with those criteria because 99 % of females are nothing like that , they should highlight female qualities the things that makes them different from males well the whole world is failing at this moment in doing that so i cant really blame games for it .
what i mean females played major roles back in the history but according to their qualities as men dont act like women women shouldnt act like men .

[Theyellowflash30]

Hey, you don't have to go on your rant here. I was just saying if she wants to play a game with females Smash Bros is the game.

[DC777]

But it's NOT 2014 in AC Unity. It's a time in history when women couldn't exactly go running around doing what men were allowed to do.

[young7yang]

Hello its the french revolution. While women did play a prominent role it was the man who showed force during that time period.

[ShaunCameron]

And what prominent role would that be?

[Gh05t]

Marie Antoinette - Pretty prominent for the wrong reason
Women's March on Versailles - Riot started by women
Pauline Léon - Feminist
Anne-Josèphe Terwagne - Feminist
Olympe de Gouges - Playwrite
Charlotte Corday - The Angel of Assassination

Should I continue or do you really think women don't play roles in history even if they don't have political power?

[Lucreto]

She must be not following the games development.

It has been mentioned before in the co-op mode that everyone will be Arno. Just like watch Dogs everyone was Aiden but you are a random person to everyone else.

[PowerNerd101]

Again, we've already played as a black woman in AC Liberation, so does every game need a female option now? Give me a break...

[Ogygian]

Haha of course she's angry.

Female voice actor calling for more female characters...no doubt voiced by females....

She wants to see more job opportunities for her to lend her voice to, so it's nothing more than a selfish desire.

As players of course, this means we should just ignore it. An opinion without sound justification is not an argument, but an arbitrary whim.

[Stoppokingme]

This is coming from a woman who voiced one of the most iconic female characters of all time.

Ten years ago a character like Ellie would not have made it onto the drawing board, let alone becoming the star of the show.

[iNFAMOUZ1]

who cares

[annus]

She does, obviously.

[ScorpiusX]

Wait there are female Assassin they are just candidates that do side missions like the male counter parts ,is this hoopla over a lead .cause if that's the case what happen to that female Assassin from New Orleans or that Lucy was an assassin. Get the feeling everyone is riding this appeasement ride way to much. Jmo

[EdoubleD]

Stfu, why was this issue even brought back?

Stupid non-issues.

[mcarsehat]

She's lovable but stop jumping on the bandwagon please, it's unbecoming.

[kingmushroom]

I got her autograph shes cool.

[Dirtnapstor]

Give me a break... She'd better be careful about spouting off her mouth. Yes she played the role of a lifetime, but that doesn't make her immune from getting pinched. Plenty of female roles to play.

[slinky123456]

The true sexism is the fact that people just can't play a game because a certain sex of a character is not their own. Like really? Just play the game and enjoy it. It's sexist for those to think they can't play a game because it doesn't offer their gender role.

[LAWSON72]

Yeah... Get over it

[DaBeatSpecialist]

"She doesn't even necessarily have to be a badass. Just like a normal female character."

Wait you want a normal female character in an Assassin's Creed game who doesn't brutally murder anyone in their path....cool

[LightDiego]

I like her, but please, these feminazis are a pain in the ***, can't stand gaming sites with that agenda like Kotaku and Gamespot. I don't like so much anymore AC, but the game is made by Ubisoft, it's their decision how to create it and what characters will be the protagonists, if you don't like it, just don't buy it, simple.

[Gardenia]

Gaming is a man's world. It's fine by me that games have female characters and I liked the latest Tomb Raider a lot, but some things are just for man only

[Locknuts]

I'm getting sick of this crap.

[ShaunCameron]

Well since women are supposedly equal to men now, she can make her own game and have all the female characters she wants.

[SpinalRemains138]

Her game has no men in it.

Tell this lady to go away. Go play FF. Plenty of women

[fullmetal297]

Didn't Ubisoft feature a black female as a main character in an Assassin Creed game? If she wanted a strong female prevalence then just play that game.

[DCfan]

So, why should we care??

[madmike956]

we dont need women leads in every fucking game, get over it

[HappyWithOneBubble]

There's plenty of games with female characters. You women just want every little thing when ya'll already getting better things than us men.

[ZeroAtmin]

When did gaming turn into an equal rights battle ground like seriously i don't mind having female characters or in Dragon Age's case homosexual characters but do people really have to get mad if they're lacking in numbers and do dev really have to shove it in people's faces like seriously and what bothers me not as a general is that they can never do a normal female character they always have make them some award winning character with so much depth eventhough they are just not the main protagonist.Note:Elizabeth and Ellie love the characters but hate how their performance over shadows Booker's and Joel's in the community.

[Heavenly King]

She is a very good actress; but can we stop this nonsense?

Things happen, just deal with it.

[Enigma_2099]

it's their right to not include them unfortunately. But any female gamer pissed off at their rationale when it comes to this sort of thing is completely justified in their discontent. If these companies want to ostracize female gamers from the general gaming populace, then d*****, stop pretending that's not the case, because it totally is. And it's pretty hypocritical when you sit there and claim that you believe in equality among gamers. "Buy our games, but stop asking us to put stuff in them that would make you want to buy them."

[Paul85]

Tell the cry baby to like better games!

[MasterofMagnetism]

Please take your equality crap somewhere else.

[GeraltofRivia]

Lara Croft, Bayonetta, Jill Valentine, Sheva, girl from Trine games, Blade Kitten, and many more would like to say hello. Maybe if women did not complain about the most meaningless things on Earth there would be more women featured in video games.

[Enigma_2099]

Blade Kitten? Seriously? That game wasn't even good.

And you name a handful of games as opposed to HOW MANY that don't feature female characters?

... I said characters, not eye candy. You have to admit that they are a minority.

[estillz96]

I understand what she's trying to say but I mean a company shouldn't be forced to have female characters just for the sake of having female characters. If it is to have them then it should be natural, not forced. Same goes for LGBT.

[BrandanT]

Who cares?

[mediate-this]

How bout this, what if no one wants to play as lead female characters? If it fits then yeah thats cool, but dont cram it down our throats, same goes for black lead characters and everyone else, dont force it, would be great to see a switch up.

But when it does and its not forced it works. All this nagging and forcing is annoying

[Azzanation]

This chick is not very bright.

[TheBoy]

If women were in AC Unity, women would complain about the portray of women as murderers, you just can't win with women logic.

[eXclurel]

Who cares? Let's be angry at Ninja Turtles too then, there isn't any female ninja turtle. It is an artistic choice.

[ion53]

The thing is, in ACU you play Arno. And only Arno. What's the point in a female co-op avatar when only your friends see it, and it's randomised and generalised anyway?

So don't bitch about ACU.

[ion53]

Lack of females? Oh HELL NO. We're also missing here: Asians, Blacks, Armenians, British, Latinos, Eskimos, Gays, mixed race, and European (other than French) in this game.

/s

[SnakeCQC]

Its the comments on articles like this that always remind me that n4g is made up of a myriad 6 years old bi polar kids that demand diversity in games yet demand they all stay the same.

[mhunterjr]

I still don't see why THIS GAME is the one that sparked this issue... There are countless games that don't have female protagonists...

[knifefight]

It's because Ubi opened its mouth and gave silly reasons (hint: not reasons) for it. Everyone else just kind kept their mouth shut and stayed out of trouble. Ubi, on the other hand, has pretty terrible PR.

[VealParmHero]

See this actually sort of angers me. What are the chances there were male assassins in that time period? Sure the premise is completely false, but the era in which it is grounded and the "reality" they portray, doesn't leave much room for female characters , at least not in the role of a playable character.

TLoU takes place in a time where it makes more sense to follow a female, and they nailed it. No reason there cannot or should not be more female characters, but that does not mean devs should have to meet an almost quota like standard just to please critics, male or female.

I will admit that there is no reason why devs cannot make a story in anytime period and choose to follow a female, especially since this is fiction, and anything goes so long as the end product is quality. There's just no need to force it to be "fair".

[MAULxx]

She will get over it or buy a different game.
While I'm not against an option to play as a female character, I am against self elected, so called "leaders" forcing their views to "progress" society.

[vicristion]

I like the character Ellie, but must we recognize that the Last of Us without Joel, is that Uncharted without Nathan Drake; is that Metal Gear without Solid Snake. I hope that in the Last of Us 2 I can play again with Joel. (Think male character give a different hue stories is much more reliable).