Study Shows That Assassin's Creed Games Are Often Played By Couples

Most Assassin's Creed games are purchased by men, but that doesn't mean women aren't also getting in on the action. Ubisoft executive Alain Corre tells The Wall Street Journal that studies have shown that couples often play Assassin's Creed games together.

"We've done some studies on this and, interestingly, we notice that many couples seem to be playing games like Assassin's Creed together," he said. "So while a game like Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed is predominantly purchased by males, it isn't necessarily played [just] by guys."

Presumably, Corre is talking about heterosexual couples. We have followed up with Ubisoft, asking for further results from the study, as well as details about methodology. These types of demographic surveys are often kept confidential, but we will update this post with anything we hear back from the French publisher.

Couples playing Assassin's Creed games together in the past needed to hand controllers back and forth, but

Corre's comments were made as part of The Wall Street Journal's wider story on the role of women in the video game industry today. The story also features a quote from The Division producer Fredrik Rundqvist, who said, "We see a big and fast increase in female players." In addition, The Sims 4 executive producer Rachel Franklin says half of The Sims' player base are women, and there is room to grow further.

"It is a demographic that clearly loves to play games," she said. "Women make up a huge part of the available gaming audience, and it is up to developers to decide whether or not to reach out to them."

According to the latest data [PDF] from The Entertainment Software Association, the group that represents the video game industry's interests on Capitol Hill, 48 percent of gamers in the United States are women. In addition, women age 18 or older make up a much larger portion of gamers (36 percent) than boys age 18 or younger (17 percent).

The topic of the representation of women in games has been a major talking point this year, following news out of E3 in June that Assassin's Creed Unity and Far Cry 4 would not feature playable female characters. Opinions on the subject have flooded in, with some people saying Ubisoft was unfairly singled out, while others maintain that the industry should not shy away from the women-in-games discussion.

Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @EddieMakuch

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