Ubisoft has been shaken to its core by a series of sexism and sexual misconduct allegations, which have led to the resignation or dismissal of many high-profile employees of the company.
Ubisoft’s decisions regarding female characters have been dissected recently in the wake of these troubling allegations, with fans noting the diminished roles that female Assassin’s like Amunet and Elise have had in their respective titles.
Because of this, the Assassin’s Creed fan community has rallied around many of these characters.
Fans recently created a new symbol meant to highlight these female characters, called the Assassin’s Creed Sisterhood. It is a stylized Egyptian looking symbol, which includes a snake.
It came out of a group called The Mentor’s Guild, which is an Assassin’s Creed fan community. The symbol, debuted on Twitter, is meant to acknowledge, represent, and stand alongside the women of Assassin’s Creed, along with the community members and developers, themselves.
The start of something new. Proud to reveal the logo for #ACSisterhood designed by mentor @Memento_Gallery. Inspired by Amunet herself, this logo represents all of the incredible women in the Assassin’s Creed universe as well as devs & community members who identify as women. pic.twitter.com/DzXxNIb3Qn
— Kulpreet Virdi #ACSisterhood 🐍 (@kulpreetvirdi) July 31, 2020
Twitter user Kilpreet Virdi debuted the symbol, saying, “The start of something new. Proud to reveal the logo for #ACSisterhood, designed by mentor @Memento_Gallery. Inspired by Amunet herself, this logo represents all of the incredible women in the Assassin’s Creed universe, as well as the devs and community members who identify as women.”
She goes on to explain the symbolism behind the snake.
“We chose to include a snake in the #ACSisterhood logo to symbolize Amunet. Snakes are also symbols of rebirth, transformation, and healing.”
Both Amunet and Elise were playable in their respective titles (Origins and Syndicate). It was not until Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the most recent entry into the franchise, that players were able to make the choice to play as a female assassin for the entire game.
The character of Kassandra is the first female lead in a major Assassin’s Creed title. Before that, the character of Shao Jun was a female Chinese assassin featured in the side game, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China.
A report by Bloomberg earlier this year cited sources which indicated that Kassandra was originally meant to be the sole protagonist for Odyssey. But Ubisoft execs, particularly ousted creative director Serge Hascoet, pushed for there to be a male Assassin choice as well, stating that, “women don’t sell.”
This same source also indicated that both Elise and Amunet were supposed to have larger roles in their games, but they were pushed back by Hascoet and others at Ubisoft due to this sexist attitude.
Apparently Hascoet and his team should pay closer attention to games like The Last of Us: Part 2, which features two female protagonists and sold 4 million copies in its first three days.
