With scandals rocking the French publisher, Ubisoft has quietly released a new Assassin’s Creed Valhalla trailer featuring female Eivor.
Last week, Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s soundtrack was officially on sale. And along with that announcement came the release of a brand new cinematic trailer. It’s the exact same trailer as Valhalla’s initial reveal trailer that we saw many months ago, but with one important difference.
This time, it’s female Eivor that takes center stage.
Other than the fact that Eivor is now a woman, the trailer is exactly the same as you remember. There are still several picturesque scenes of Norse villages, there’s still an evil Saxon king declaring war, and there’s still an intense battle scene with lots of impaling and spurting blood. Eivor’s lines are delivered just as intensely from her female voice actor, and the trailer ends with female Eivor looking at the Saxon general with a look that pretty much says “you’re next.”
Although the trailer is technically to announce the official soundtrack, there’s no mention of the soundtrack at any point. Which is kinda weird.
But maybe it’s also on purpose. Ubisoft has come under fire in recent weeks due to a rumor that said Eivor should have canonically been female. A leaked conversation with Valhalla’s now-disgraced Creative Director Ashraf Ismail revealed that Eivor was always intended to be a woman, but Ubisoft executives demanded that a male option take center stage in order to be more appealing to gamers.
Narrative Director Derby McDevitt took to Reddit to contend the rumor, saying that “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s story was conceived from the beginning with both female and male in mind.” This trailer retcon might be a means of appeasing angry fans, although it seems unlikely to do so.
On top of this scandal, Ubisoft is still reeling from the ongoing sexual harassment and toxic work culture scandal that has seen many high-level executives leave the company. The most recent exec to be sacked is Tommy Francois, who was reportedly fired without cause but likely due to allegations of sexual misconduct.
Source: Ubisoft
