Ubisoft sorry for gaming survey that gives women the boot
Video games giant Ubisoft has been under scrutiny after a company survey was found to immediately boot respondents who click the female parameter.
Assassin's Creed Unity saw criticism for not including playable female characters
While in isolation the issue seems small, in the background, the games industry is making huge attempts to be more inclusive to women in wake of the Gamergate scandal that exposed the ugly side of video games.
The company behind the Watchdogs, Assassins Creed and Ghost Recon released a survey asking users questions about their favourite game, but on the first question it immediately excluded anyone claiming to be female.
Many social media users were disappointed with the company.
@Spacekatgal @Quinnae_Moon No sexism in gaming here! Nope. https://t.co/klYvmU1ltg
— Brynn Tannehill (@BrynnTannehill) July 5, 2016
New Ubisoft survey automatically excludes anyone who says they wouldn't "spend an eternity in Ezio's strong, comforting arms"
— Porygon (@PorygonNews) July 5, 2016
The company claimed that the incident was caused by a mistake and not an actual decision to ban women from giving feedback on its new project.
A spokesman told The Drum: “There was an error with the setup of the survey. It should now be resolved and available to everyone. Apologies for any confusion.”
One user expressed his doubt at the excuse however.
Having worked in market research this seems like an unlikely "error."
You don't thoroughly test your survey programming?
— Ralph Pullins (@RDPullins) July 5, 2016