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Ubisoft Lacks Resources to Animate Women, but Hires a Parkour Expert for Assassin’s Creed

#ParkourIsTooHardToAnimate?

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Yes, you read that right. The same studio that claimed it would have been too much work to animate female playable characters in Assassin’s Creed Unity just hired a guy to enhance the authenticity of the way the game’s characters move. Feel free to take a pause here, blink, rub your eyes, and make sure you’re not in some kind of bizarre alternate reality.

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It’s not that I begrudge Michael ‘Frosti’ Zernow, of Tempest Freerunning, his new job as “chief parkour officer” (which, to be sure, is a pretty cool title to hold) at Ubisoft for the Assassin’s Creed series. I’m sure he’ll be great at it, and the assassins’ jumping, climbing, and acrobatics will probably look a lot more realistic. Good for him.

For the rest of us, it’s still a pretty big slap in the face as far as where the studio’s priorities lie.

According to Ubisoft’s release on the new hire, Zernow will have an ongoing role in the franchise to, “Serve in a strategic advisory role, ensuring an ongoing commitment to the authenticity and accuracy of parkour beginning with the October 28 launch of Assassin’s Creed Unity.”

That’s great and all, but we wouldn’t mind an ongoing commitment to the authenticity of gender representation to go along with it, Ubisoft. Who do we have to hire to get that done? (Psst: probably more women.)

(via Elder-Geek)

Previously in wow, Ubisoft. Wow

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Dan Van Winkle
Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct <em>Geekosystem</em> (RIP), and then at <em>The Mary Sue</em> starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at <em>Smash Bros.</em>

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