Assassin's Creed Odyssey was a hit when it came out and it seems to have laid down the groundwork for what will be implemented in the upcoming Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Many enjoyed being able to pick between a male and female character and form their relationships accordingly as they progressed through the game and Valhalla seems to be following a similar choice model. Yet, it seems that this choice may be the result of pushback from employees at Ubisoft.
Publisher Ubisoft has recently been the center of controversy. The company has some senior staff facing sexual misconduct allegations and there are reports that the company has mishandled numerous sexual misconduct claims. These are serious issues that the company is facing and it seems that sexism was also deeply rooted in the development of games. On the back of these reports, it has been revealed that the idea of a female-led Assassin's Creed Odyssey was shot down very quickly.
Jason Schreier has reported that the developer's behind Assassin's Creed Odyssey wanted Kassandra to be the only playable protagonist but "Ubisoft's marketing team and creative lead Serge Hascoët wouldn't allow it. Women don't sell, they said." For many, this will be reflective of a pretty archaic view, particularly as a lot of players enjoyed playing as Kassandra in the game. While Ubisoft is yet to comment on whether this was the case it does seem to be reflective of the marketing policies of the publisher which is even reflected in the upcoming Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Despite being able to choose between a male or female protagonist in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The reveal trailer only showed the male form of Eivor and most players found out about the option of a female character through collectible models. As a result, there have been questions about how the female character can be chosen and why they have been relegated to ancillary marketing material. It is evident that Ubisoft favors promoting male protagonists and this may confuse players as the gaming market has plenty of games with female leads.
There is an evident market for female protagonists that a lot of companies are taking advantage of. The Last of Us 2 has smashed sales records recently and Lara Croft is one of the most iconic video game stars of all time. It is unclear why Ubisoft has taken a male-orientated direction and many fans will hope that the company is more open-minded in the future, particularly as the decisions the company has made seem to be based on biased-values that do not reflect industry facts.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.