User blog comment:Master Sima Yi/Assassinews 05-08-'14 – Assassin's Creed: Rogue announced/@comment-73.180.57.132-20140806051454/@comment-13471981-20140806123210
Because the female protagonist is way overdue? Out all of the lead Assassins, there's only one female and she was put in an average spin-off that was painfully overshadowed by a main title. If Ubisoft want to make a claim to equal representation, they're gonna have to do better than the currently 9 playable male protagonists (Desmond, Altaïr, Ezio, Connor, Haytham, Edward, Adéwalé, Arno, Shay) to 1 playable female protagonist (Aveline) ratio (and that's only videogames; add the four comic book protagonists (Aquilus, El Cakr, Nikolai Orelov, Arbaaz Mir) and you get a whoopin' 13 vs 1).
I will not touch race; Ubisoft has shown to be equal opportunity there, in my opinion. But they're doing terribly on the gender front (along with most other videogames). It is about representation for a large group of male and female gamers that has grown frustrated with the "white male badass with a gruff voice and stubble" stereotype that has become so laughably prevalent in gaming.
I'm not saying men can't be interesting characters, but women should be given a chance to shine as well. Besides, what with Ubisoft already having their main game of 2014 be Unity with Arno, their old-gen title could've gone for something a little more creative.