According to a new Bloomberg report, the recent "Assassin's Creed" game was initially slated to feature a larger role for the female protagonist.

The report, which investigated recent reports of harassment, abuse, and toxicity within Ubisoft, outlines how the publisher's misogyny and "machismo" culture affected the games it produced.

According to Bloomberg, "Assassin's Creed Syndicate" was originally planned to have an equal ratio of playable characters, twins Jacob and Evie Frye. Executives, including the recently departed Serge Hascoe, interfered, and as a result, the balance was skewed heavily in favor of Jacob. In the final game, Evie and Jacob were roughly 40 to 60.

This pattern reappeared in Assassin's Creed Origins. In the original game, the main character Baek is killed early in the game and his wife Aya appears instead. In the final game, Aya's role was greatly reduced, appearing only in a few ship battle scenes, with Bayek taking the lead role.

A year later, the only player character in Assassin's Creed Odyssey was initially planned to be Cassandra. Haskoe and unnamed people in Ubisoft's marketing department argued that a game with a female lead would not sell, and Cassandra's brother Alexios was to be the alternate lead. While Cassandra remains the legitimate protagonist of "The Odyssey," it always seemed to me that having an alternative possible lead made it more difficult for the writers to develop Cassandra and Alexios as unique characters. It leaves an even worse taste in my mouth when I learn that it was a decision imposed on the team by executives who are now being accused of harassment and abuse.

Serge Hascoe was Ubisoft's "Chief Creation Officer," described as Ubisoft's "creative force" and one of the most powerful employees after CEO Yves Guillemot. Described as one of Ubisoft's most powerful employees after CEO Yves Guillemot, he was in charge of game planning and could change the direction of development at his discretion. Before resigning from Ubisoft earlier this month, he was accused by the French newspaper Libération of toxicity, misogyny, homophobia, "libidinous behavior" (by Thomas Bidaux), and even drugging people with marijuana-laced cake without their knowledge.

His resignation was part of a clean-up operation within Ubisoft. Allegations have reached every aspect of the publisher, with executives, developers, and personnel all accused of fostering a horrific work environment where abuse was rife. On July 2, Gilmo explained the company's response, including the intervention of a third party to reform personnel policies and to investigate all allegations received. However, Gilmo has since been accused of being the CEO while all this was going on. People claim that Gilmo knew of and tolerated this environment until it became too big a public relations headache to ignore.

It's been years since a major Ubisoft title has had a single female protagonist, and while Avreen was the star of Assassin's Creed Liberation, it was a handheld spinoff, and not in the limelight as was Assassin's Creed 3 of the same generation It did not share the limelight as much as its contemporary "Assassin's Creed 3. If we ignore smaller, indie-ish titles like "Child of Light," the last major Ubisoft title to feature a woman as the only playable character was 2004's "Beyond Good & Evil. The answer to this problem is not to end up with the occasional female appearance, but to ensure that the studio is open to diverse voices and storylines, free from management bias.

Having character creators who can choose the gender of their characters is not the problem, nor is having a male lead the game. The problem is that stories that are supposed to be told from a woman's point of view are diluted by pushing men into the game because of unfounded fears that the game will not sell without men.

Imagine "Origins," in which Aya had to avenge both her son and her husband, or "The Odyssey," which truly explored ancient Greek gender dynamics. More importantly, what if the people making those games could do it in a safe environment, free from allegations of harassment by executives and managers and gaslighting by the publisher's HR department?