QUOTE | "Inclusivity always seems to end up on the cutting board." - A female engineer at a top studio (who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal), discussing the “horribly familiar” arguments Ubisoft offered as to why a female character option was left out of Assassin's Creed Unity.
Elsewhere in the business of video games this past week ...
QUOTE | “Diversity for us is very important. But we respect very much the creative vision of the team. This is what matters at the end of the day.” - Ubisoft EMEA executive Alain Corre responding to the controversy surrounding the publisher leaving out a playable female character in the next Assassin's Creed.
QUOTE | "In my educated opinion, I would estimate this to be a day or two's work. Not a replacement of 8,000 animations." - Game animator Jonathan Cooper, commenting on Ubisoft's explanation that “It was a question of focus and a question of production” to not include a female character option in Assassin's Creed Unity.
QUOTE | "I could make games forever with a fraction of what any of these press conference spectacles cost." - Zoë ʻZoE3Buttʼ Quinn of The Quinnspiracy, tweeting along with other developers about the pre-E3 press conferences.
QUOTE | "There have only been a handful of times in my life where I saw something that I knew would change everything." - Jason Rubin, co-founder of Naughty Dog and now head of worldwide studios for Oculus VR, explaining why he took the job with Oculus.
QUOTE | "As a creator it has become very difficult; the more technology we use, the more difficult [being creative] becomes." - Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear Solid series, explaining why increasing costs threaten the content of the series.
QUOTE | "We knew that Watch Dogs would be a game that would really polarize." - Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, talking about the difficulties of creating new IP and appealing to a broad audience.
QUOTE | "Directing BioShock 2 definitely gave me a taste of all the...overconfidence and creeping doubt/screaming panic that I think people at all tiers of a creative hierarchy feel." - Jordan Thomas, director of BioShock 2, talking about creating his indie game about making games, The Magic Circle.
QUOTE | "The time you spend reinventing something is time you don't have to advance and add something new." - Lionel Raynaud, Ubisoft Montreal's vice president of creative, talking about why familiar elements from previous games appear in Watch Dogs.
QUOTE | "The eighth-generation consoles are driving gaming sales and enthusiasm across the board." - Kevin Tillmann, senior research analyst at CEA, talking about their recent study predicting wholesale revenue for 2014 to be up 85% over last year.