Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Was Only Supposed To Feature Kassandra But Ubisoft Didn’t Think It Would Sell

Jason Schreier of Bloomberg has posted a great report on the mysogynistic culture that has been going on at Ubisoft at a Senior level, with dozens of employees reaching out to report on the toxic culture. 

Whilst it’s clear at this point that a lot of female employees were mistreated, it seems as if this kind of culture has permeated into the game development as well. One of the most surprising things to come out of the report is the fact that the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey team wanted Kassandra to be the only playable character (she was absolutely badass and definitely should have been), but Ubisoft’s key Marketing team as well as Ubisoft’s Creative Lead, Serge Hascoët wouldn’t allow it as “women don’t sell”.

“Among many details I learned while reporting this piece: the developers of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey wanted Kassandra to be the only playable lead, but Ubisoft’s marketing team and creative lead Serge Hascoët wouldn’t allow it,” said Jason Screier.

It’s also reported that it was a similar case for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, where Jacob Frye was made to be the dominant protagonist, and Hascoët also ensured that Bayek didn’t die in Assassin’s Creed: Origins to ensure that Aya didn’t get a more important role in the narrative.