Ready at Dawn co-founder says Ubisoft demanded their game’s protagonist be male

Ready at Dawn, a now-shuttered studio that was acquired by Meta in 2020 and shut down in 2024, has a long history in game development. While never quite a AAA studio, the Irvine, California-based developer worked on games like Daxter, God of War spin-offs, and the highly successful VR titles Lone Echo and Echo Arena. The latter titles got the attention of Oculus Studios under Meta, prompting their acquisition.

Before the Meta acquisition, Ready at Dawn created multiple titles under different publishers, most often PlayStation. In an interview with MinnMax, Ready at Dawn co-founder Andrea Pessino spoke candidly about working with these different publishers, including a doomed project with French video game developer and publisher Ubisoft.