Ubisoft lead writer asks: Where are all the gay video game protagonists?

- Lucien Soulban, lead writer at Ubisoft Montreal, reckons that it'll be a while before we get to control any gay characters in AAA games. Talking with Ubisoft's Richard Dansky, Soulban noted that we continue to see "mid-30s stubbly-bearded brown-haired white guy with a raspy voice" protagonists in AAA games for fear from publishers that games with gay characters won't sell. "When are going to get a gay/lesbian AAA hero(ine) who isn’t a one-off joke?" he asks. "Either we’ll see a bait-and-switch like the original Metroid with Samus Aran where we’ll find out damn near after the fact (PS: And Dumbledore was gay), or it’ll come out of left field with Rockstar, Valve, Naughty Dog or Telltale, perhaps." AAA games have dabbled a little in gay protagonists over the last decade -- see the Mass Effect series for one of the most recent big examples -- but it's obvious that we're still not really there. "When it happens," adds Soulban, "I hope it’s a serious take on it and not played up for jokes."