10 Insane Reasons That Video Games Were Missing Features
8. Adding Female Characters Would "Double The Work" - Assassin's Creed: Unity
Many Assassin's Creed fans had been asking Ubisoft to introduce a playable female lead for years, and when the subject once again came up ahead of Assassin's Creed: Unity's release, the studio claimed that they decided not to include a playable female character because it would have "doubled the work."
Ubisoft technical director James Therien noted that giving players the option of playing as a woman would've required thousands of new skeletal animations to be created, yet for many players, this excuse didn't really cut it.
It felt like a soft, lame duck answer coming from a studio with resources as vast as Ubisoft - a weak copout to try and avoid ruffling feathers.
After all, it was revealed in recent years that Ubisoft higher-ups tried to suppress the presence of female characters in the series, likely amid the misguided belief that games with female protagonists don't sell.
Granted in the case of Unity, Ubisoft evidently had trouble delivering a basically functional game with just one gender, but at least from the next game onward, Assassin's Creed finally began introducing playable female leads.