They just fucked up their communication plan. This is all based on a misunderstanding.
You don't "create a character" in ACU. This is not Mass Effect or Skyrim.You customize the existing one.
Just like you do in GTA V for example. You have extensive customization option for each of the 3 main characters of the game, but you can't, for example, change their race or gender. Because the game tells the story of Franklin the black guy who says "nigga", you can't suddenly decide to make him an asian female for example. However, you can change all of his clothes and even his hairstyle and give him a moustache if you feel like.
People never complained that you couldn't be a woman in AC Brotherhood for instance. I don't see any problem here, it's the same for ACU. No matter what moustache you have, or the color of your coat, you're always going to be Arno, just like you were Ezio, Altair, Connor, or Edward.
All I see is people making points that would be totally valid for other type of games, but just have no bearing here.
1 - it would be really a shit move if a game where you create a character (Mass Effect, Skyrim, Wildstar, etc) didn't allow for female characters to be made. But this isn't the case here.
2 - it would be a totally shit move if this was a game about a crew of 4 main characters (like Borderlands, Left 4 Dead, Fuse, etc.) and each of them the identical mold of white male.
Again, this isn't the case here. This is not a scenario where the four main characters are white male. The co-op part is outside of the story, and since you don't create a separate character for co-op, everyone plays it with "Arno". So in co-op, you have 4 instances of "Arno". Now you can find it highly silly at worse, but it's not sexist or racist.
But I don't fault people for getting mislead, I was too at first, and frankly, with marketing assets like this one...
... I can't blame anyone for thinking this is like left 4 dead or borderlands, but with a terrible lack of diversity in main characters. This thing looks like an Ocean's Eleven movie poster where the 4 wise-cracking heroes of the plot are going to kick some ass.
But this is just 4 times the same character with different clothes and facial hair, "because videogames".
So I really don't know why Ubisoft is digging their own holes with stupid "production reasons" when they could just explain this misunderstanding.
Assassin's Creed Unity is not more "obligated" to giving gender choice than, say, The Last Of Us, Infamous Second Son, GTA, Splinter Cell, or any other AC game, or any other game that is about telling the story of a unique pre-written character.
Now I'm not saying that it's "impossible" to make a scenario that goes fine for a male OR a female, because lots of games do it, but it's really up to the game's creators to decide about which story they tell and how much the player is allowed to have an impact on it.
And please don't quote that last bit out of context without reading the rest of my post.
I'm all for more female representation in games (I always play female character when given the opportunity), but what I see in this situation is not people advocating for more female character, it's people being mislead and acting like from now on every big budget game should adapt its scenario and storytelling intentions to accomodate characters of any gender. I feel it's a bit sad that once again, an originally noble cause is made to look bad by people jumping to conclusions and blowing things out of proportions.