Female characters are not available in the next Assassin's Creed game because it's just too hard. At least, according to the company behind the game, Ubisoft.

Ubisoft technical director James Therien said that though women were on the feature list until "not too long ago," they were cut because of "focus and production," according to VideoGamer.

"A female character means that you have to redo a lot of animation," he said, adding that their exclusion has nothing to with "philosophy or choice."

Bruno St. Andre, also of Ubisoft, backed up Therien's claims by saying that more than 8,000 new animators would be needed to recreate a new skeletal structure. And cutting main character Arno Dorian to make room for a female character was not possible, he said.

The franchise has included female characters in the past, which makes Ubisoft's claims even more puzzling. Fans have questioned the legitimacy of the comments as Ubisoft has nine studios across the world.

Others have decided to poke fun at Ubisoft.

One Twitter user said, "'Female bone structure is just different,' says Joe Ubisoft. 'Are there spiders in there? We just don't know.'"

Both men and women have decided not to buy Assassin's Creed games after the company's comments.

One woman said, "@Ubisoft Since you won't prioritize women in your games, I won't prioritize buying your games."

And some showed that other video game developers didn't have a problem including women in their games by linking to a Geek Feminism page. The list includes Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil and Final Fantasy as examples.

Not all studios are willing to include women.

Rockstar Games, the makers of Grand Theft Auto V, said that none of the three protagonists were women because "the concept of being masculine was so key to this story." Similarly, Chris Perna, art director for Gears of War, said that having female lead characters is hard to justify because they don't sell well.