Ubisoft explains the lack of French accents in Assassin's Creed Unity

[rafbanaan]

In an interview with Alex Amancio, creative director of the game, he said the following: 

 

"The idea is that the Animus is translating everything into the language you’re playing in. That’s why, since you’re an Anglophone, you’re hearing all the dialogue and cinematics in English," Amancio said. "It would really make no sense for there to be a French accent because that would mean that this French character is trying to address you in accented English. Everyone in the game is not trying to speak English for your benefit.”

 

 

Alex also said that all the non game-related elements will be in french.

 

"The only lines that are going to be translated into English are gameplay-related elements that we need to convey to the player." He explains. “Those parts will be in English. Everything else is in French. You’ll really have the immersion of walking around in Paris and hearing everyone speaking French.”

 

 

Most parts of the game are in french except the game-related elements. These are in "perfect" english. I'm not sure what to think of it.

 

Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/09/15/ubisoft-discusses-the-lack-of-french-accents-in-assassins-creed-unity

[Stefano]

It makes sense. I completely agree. You know what I like it when they do not translate the different languages. If you don't understand them then tough. Read the subtitles. In that respect Inglorious Basterds was amazing. (I am slightly biased as I speak English, German, French and Italian along with the Swiss German dialect.)

[Victorious Secret]

I too say tough shit to those who don't know any of the languages. 

 

Immersion is key. Either you don't know French and thus feel out of place, or you know French and maybe it adds to the experience. Either way, its adding to the experience. 

 

Pickup a damn dictionary and start translating if its too difficult to keep up with what that street card vendor just yelled at you because you smashed through his setup while trying to escape from the guards. 

[Bloodyvalley]

I would have liked to have it with a french accent, more immersion.

[dlf]

Mais je veux un accent français . . . Seems like since unity takes places in France they should speak French.   TO translate the small french sentence: But I want french accents.

[thebennyboy]

Why not just have all the speech in french and have english subtitles? Would make it a bit more immersive.

[Hans Christian | Teri]

It makes 100% sense, hope the rest of the game lives up to it.

[Benbass]

Why not just have all the speech in french and have english subtitles? Would make it a bit more immersive.

 

You will not reach the mass market with subtitles.

 

As a French I'm curious about the french voice acting for once (generally it's pretty bad).

[Bloodyvalley]

At least something like: BUT ZI VANT ZA FRENCH AZZENTS!

 

(I think that's german though)

[Beskamir]

The Animus has an automatic translator and I would expect it to be in a fully functional form in AC Unity. ACII-ACIII had a buggy translator from what I remember. Therefore I would expect the game to be in fully fleshed out English.

[Plasma]

im fine with the game in french but they could have just installed a translator into the Animus 

[Redheadsrule13]

This makes sense, I expect that the majority of the audience is English speaking and not bilingual with French. I can understand why having everyone speak French would be immersive, but there is a point where the fact that you can't understand shit actually makes it less so. 
I would have preferred French accents though. Having the animus translate properly would mean that everyone would be talking an an Aussie accent to me, which would be incredibly annoying. ACII had Italian accents even though the dialogue was in English, it was translated so you could understand, but not so regional that it seems out of place, which worked well.

[Admire]

I agree so much! I will always, repeat ALWAYS hate Crisis for this crap. If you want north Koreans, then FIND SOMEBODY WHO SPEAKS KOREAN!! Don't put in American actors, make them speak English with an offensive Asian accent.

[Xorbot]

[NInety]

So.... what about the Italian accents in 1-Revelation?

[Misanthrope]

It makes sense. I completely agree. You know what I like it when they do not translate the different languages. If you don't understand them then tough. Read the subtitles. In that respect Inglorious Basterds was amazing. (I am slightly biased as I speak English, German, French and Italian along with the Swiss German dialect.)

 

I agree with your sentiment yet come away with the exact opposite conclusion: The original language should be respected but I would have preferred that this games would keep everything but the "modern" cinematics in french with subtitles instead. Having him translate everything is a good compromise but a compromise nonetheless: It should have been all French with subtitles.

[Admire]

I agree with your sentiment yet come away with the exact opposite conclusion: The original language should be respected but I would have preferred that this games would keep everything but the "modern" cinematics in french with subtitles instead. Having him translate everything is a good compromise but a compromise nonetheless: It should have been all French with subtitles.

 

Agreed! Subtitles aren't some disease. Its far better to have original language and then have subtitles. Anybody who have watched a dubbed movie knows that.

[zacRupnow]

Why not just have all the speech in french and have english subtitles? Would make it a bit more immersive.

Since when has Assassin's Creed taken good ideas and done them right? There is no immersion in AC games, they're Arkham games but with good stories.

[zacRupnow]

Just another excuse for not making good games.

[Deletive]

Ubisoft... you own a studio IN MONTREAL!  How can you not have french accents when your studio is basically based in a Quebec city!

[kuddlesworth9419]

How about if a game is set in France everyone speaks french and there are just subtitles at the bottom. Same if it was set in America, Japan, Russia, Italy or werever. I would be pretty down with that but I watch a lot of foreign films so I am used to reading subtitles. It is educating though to listen to lots of foreign dialect. But I guess Ubisoft doesn't want to harm their potential profits by using their how dialect because Ubi is a french company at the end of the day. Someone should try it out and see what happens.

[qwertywarrior]

the french accent is a 4.99$ DLC

[Deletive]

How about if a game is set in France everyone speaks french and there are just subtitles at the bottom. Same if it was set in America, Japan, Russia, Italy or werever. I would be pretty down with that but I watch a lot of foreign films so I am used to reading subtitles. It is educating though to listen to lots of foreign dialect. But I guess Ubisoft doesn't want to harm their potential profits by using their how dialect because Ubi is a french company at the end of the day. Someone should try it out and see what happens.

anyone that watched anime would be okay with this... not like devs make characters faces very pretty anyways.

[qwertywarrior]

How about if a game is set in France everyone speaks french and there are just subtitles at the bottom. Same if it was set in America, Japan, Russia, Italy or werever. I would be pretty down with that but I watch a lot of foreign films so I am used to reading subtitles. It is educating though to listen to lots of foreign dialect. But I guess Ubisoft doesn't want to harm their potential profits by using their how dialect because Ubi is a french company at the end of the day. Someone should try it out and see what happens.

you want me to READ

what the hell is wrong with you !!!!!!

[kuddlesworth9419]

anyone that watched anime would be okay with this... not like devs make characters faces very pretty anyways.

I watch anime which is probably why then. Also lots of Asian films.