Ubisoft is getting a right good kicking of late, for all the right reasons. If you’ve been living under a rock, the company has copped about a dozen sexual misconduct and harassment claims in the last three or so weeks. Now, following Jason Schreier’s reports over at Bloomberg, possibly the most recognizable journalistic name in gaming is breaking more news to people. It is news we already know, as with Assassin’s Creed Unity debacle in 2014, women were “too expensive to draw, record lines for, and everything.” Now Ubi Marketing team member and creative leader Serge Hascoët cut that down to “Women don’t sell (games).“

Really? They don’t sell your games, because of what data? I bet I could render every bit of that statement wrong with two words: “Booth Babes.” A pejorative term for women standing at booths in conventions that are scantily clad and pin-thin. In recent years they are no longer in bikinis, but women that are known to have slightly above average looks, otherwise referred to as “sexy,” do still appear around gaming booths to sell games. Below, you can find an image of a racist wrestler, a slightly above average looking woman in shorts, and in the background Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport 4.

Look up the phrase “Ubisoft Booth Babes” and you’ll find plenty of shots of women from 2009-2015 in shorts with Ubisoft branded T-shirts or tank tops on. Less egregious, yes, but it is still evident that Ubisoft used women to sell their wares on gaming’s biggest platform for publishers, E3. Before it was live-streamed and tickets were flogged on the internet like it was Comic-Con, the convention was all about developers looking for publishers, publishers looking for stores, and manufacturers looking for stores and developers for exclusive deals. Yes, for some part that is still the case, the convention is still a meeting hub for business folks, but you and I have ever-increasingly crashed that party.

So yes, the number of “Booth Babes” have dropped, but at E3 and other business conventions they still roam the convention halls. Some of this came through pressure in the right places, other parts I’d hazard a guess came from some looking to shame those women. If you want to degrade someone for the “Booth Babes,” take that up with the business side, don’t do as Kotaku did and make a headline out of an image saying “wish you weren’t here” over some women. All of which is undercut by promoting an article with an image of Jessica Nigri in a skimpy cosplay.

Ok, so we know “Booth Babes” sell games as scantily clad breasts always have, but what about the games selling themselves? Well, that’s a question that makes me return to what sparked this “Women don’t sell games” comment in the first place. You see, as Schreier notes in his tweet about his article, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was meant to only have Batman’s step-daughter until Hascoët shot that down like Icarus flying too close to the sun. I’ve exclusively taken Kassandra from here to Athens and all the way to Lesbos sleeping with every woman that was consenting. I have a couple of friends that have done the same.

The new one, the one shown at Ubisoft Forward the other week? I couldn’t tell you the first thing about your male character option. I could tell you he’s probably blonde, but everyone from Norway is anyway. There is a reason Ubisoft is selling Eivor the shieldmaiden statue and not the boring gruff angry man. She was also exclusively the protagonist in the showcase last week. If you’re going to claim women don’t sell your games, why is it that a large amount of dissuaded fans of your series are returning because of the women?

Ok, let’s take a step away from Assassin’s Creed: Why is it that people were jumping for joy at seeing Helen get some during the (Warning: strong language) Watch Dogs: Legion reveal last year at E3? Yes, she’s old and that’s part of it, but we didn’t see your granddad ramming his betting slip down someone’s throat. Women are selling a large number of Ubisoft’s games, either with meaningless gender options or with indirect promotional hits. If women don’t sell games, you’d be out of business.

For a moment before I wrap up, I want to point out that it is not only Ubisoft that are using an uptick of women in their games and seeing nice sales numbers. I dislike the game greatly, but The Last of Us Part II is one of the best selling games on the PS4 of all time. I’ll bang on about playing as exclusively Nora, or whatever I’d call her, in Fallout 4. Amanda Ripley, though a little weak as a character, stole the show for Alien: Isolation. Though, let’s not forget the goddess of gaming and my favorite character of all time, the original Lara Croft.

Argue about her breast size on Reddit with gamergate all you like. I don’t care what she looks like, I care about her character. Unlike the Rhianna Pratchett-lead re-characterization, Lara saw her wealth and stuck two fingers up to that. All to swan off into the jungle to stab a tiger, solve some puzzles, and steal a priceless artifact. I love her to death, and gaming would be a travesty without her.

Or how about making choices, such as in wrestling games. After the Nintendo Direct Mini, Alexx asked me about the showcase of WWE 2K Battlegrounds and why it was exclusively white men shown in-game. Hoping for the best of Saber Interactive, I think it might just be the recognizable faces for older casual fans. However, a wrestling game, and wrestling as a whole, would be devalued without the inclusion of women. The reason I like wrestling is not that there are scantily clad men and women, but because of Lita and Trish, Sasha and Bayley, Becky Lynch, Chyna, Alexa Bliss, Nyla Rose, Hikaru Shida, and Riho.

So, if you think women aren’t going to sell your game, then maybe your game isn’t good enough to begin with? I don’t care what gender my character is in a game, but if you give me an option, I’m most likely going to pick a woman. In part, I am sick of hearing a man’s story, but give me God of War (2018) and I’ll happily say that was good. I don’t outright know why I pick the woman in those options, I just do. It is possibly from the knowledge this ethos is behind the development, and thus women break the game in small ways.

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