Helen Lewis is a reporter and staff writer for The Atlantic, but she lent her voice to Watch Dogs Legion. She’s a minor character in Watch Dogs, and her voice is only used for sound in two of the game’s podcasts, but recently Ubisoft announced that she’s being removed from the job entirely.
The problem stems from some contentious opinions which Lewis has voiced in her writing and on interpersonal networking. Players and followers started expressing distaste towards Ubisoft for its addition of her in Watch Dogs Legion’s cast despite what many views to be transphobic perspectives that she spreads.
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In reaction to this information, Ubisoft has opted to cut ties with Lewis altogether and release a patch to eliminate her voice lines from the game. Rather, a fresh voice actor will be hired to re-record those podcasts and then replace Lewis’ lines, entirely erasing her from the match. Ubisoft is no stranger to controversy itself, either, though.
Though this may look like a minor occurrence that doesn’t affect much, it has many implications. For one, it shows Ubisoft on its continuing path towards making itself a much better firm. Public outcry against Ubisoft attained an all-time high this year as tales of sexual misconduct inside the company’s leadership have come to the forefront. Since then, Ubisoft’s upper management has changed radically, and it seems the replacements are happy to set a reputation for themselves as kind and fair.
Furthermore, it isn’t often that a match will return and replace work that is already done for any reason, even though it does occur occasionally. Among the more noteworthy times was when Nolan North re-recorded all the Ghost traces out of Destiny, replacing Peter Dinklage’s authentic rendition. This was admittedly a far bigger undertaking, but Watch Dogs Legion opting to remove and replace those minor parts of dialogue arguably shows more devotion given how easy it would have been to dismiss complaints and pass it up.
Obviously, some disagree with the move, claiming that Lewis should never have been hired if Ubisoft would have an issue with her later. This echoed similar sentiments when Mike Z was suspended from working on Guilty Gear later; he completed the most recent upgrade. If that’s the circumstance, fans felt like he was taken good care of, and some feel equal about Lewis. Ultimately it feels like Ubisoft will hear fans and make adjustments so, but it remains to be seen whether that ends up being a negative or positive change in the long term.
