In an interview with Game Rant, AC Sisterhood founder, Kulpreet Virdi, talks about challenges in the representation and inclusion of women in the gaming industry and in the Assassin’s Creed series.
The group, that wasn’t created to attack Ubisoft, but rather to unite fans calling attention to the way the games can be improved, is currently working with Discord to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. With several people involved, the goal is to reach $50,000 with Discord matching all raised funds up to $60,000.
However, the group started as a way to “highlight and appreciate the women of AC, in the games, the dev teams, and community.” The Assassin’s Creed franchise lacks representation since it’s, knowingly, dominated by male characters.
Last year, polemics were revealed about the franchise. To list a few:
- Elise, from Assassin’s Creed: Unity, potentially being playable but then being denied it
- Aya, from Assassin’s Creed: Origins, losing its main character role to become a side character
- Kassandra, from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, having to share the main character role with Alexios because the CCO wouldn’t allow her to be the sole character for being a women
Problems don’t stop there. The most recent game, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, similarly to the previous one, also has two selectable main characters. However, although it’s clear that the Female Eivor is the canon one since is the one automatically selected by the game when the ‘Let the Animus Decide’ option is selected, most merchandise and major promotions are done with Male Eivor.
Furthermore, Female Eivor didn’t even her Funko Pop, while Male Eivor got two.
Ubisoft and Funko might have seen how unhappy people were with the decision to have two male Eivors. I really hope that they took that [reception] on board, and you know, that we get a female Eivor sometime in the future, but I guess it’s completely up to them and in their hands as to whether we will get that.
Kulpreet Virdi
There is a clear lack of balance between the characters. Yet, some rumours with questionable reliability are suggesting the next Assassin’s Creed main character will be a woman.
It’s that balance, and I just feel like [Ubisoft] haven’t got that yet, but there is that opportunity to improve.
Kulpreet Virdi
You know, if you look at how many games there are with male protagonists and the number of games with a sole female protagonist, it just outweighs them. And it’s always the same games that are brought to light like Bayonetta, Nier: Automata, Lara Craft, Horizon Zero Dawn, or The Last of Us. But you can almost count on your fingers as to how many of those games there are, whereas there’s hundreds of games with male protagonists. And that how’s I respond to people, ‘okay, great, but you’re telling me the same handful of games with female protagonists.’ And that’s the problem, the fact there’s only a handful is the problem. And I feel like they don’t understand, it’s like ‘you’re already represented. You’ve got these four games, well it’s more than four, but you’ve got these games and you shouldn’t be asking for more.’ I feel like that’s quite offensive. A lot of women play games. We need more representation and diversity going forward, not just saying, ‘you’ve had these, now shut up.’
Kulpreet Virdi
Enjoy this piece? Don’t forget to share our work with the buttons below. Also, be sure to follow us
on Twitter to get the latest gaming news straight to your feed.
