Japanese Reenactment Group Says Assassin’s Creed Shadows Stole Their Flag

Video Games

The hits just keep on coming for Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed Shadows, although it’s hard to feel bad for them because they keep doing it to themselves. A Japanese group called the Sekigahara Teppo Corps, or Sekigahara Rifle Corps, a group that reenacts the Battle of Sekigahara and other historical events, believes that Ubisoft is using their flag in Assassin’s Creed Shadows without their permission. The member of the group who is “in charge of cannons” posted about the issue, including that legal action has been suggested, though they’re unsure if they’ll proceed. Mark Kern, aka Grummz, the former Blizzard producer who’s been at the forefront of what is being called GamerGate 2, posted the translated messages, as well as some from another Japanese user expressing displeasure at the situation:

Assassin's Creed Shadows can't catch a break in Japan.

Japanese Reenactment Group, Sekighahara Teppo Corps claims @Ubisoft STOLE their banner SYMBOL, contemplates LAWSUIT.

Comment section is filled with displeasure about Ubisoft first claiming game was historical, then… pic.twitter.com/L5wgKJjE2F

— Grummz (@Grummz) June 18, 2024

Here are the flags for comparison:

Here is the banner that @Ubisoft stole from the Sekigahara Rifle Corp without permission in Assassin's Creed: Shadows.

So much for Ubisoft's "Cultural Sensitivity" consultants.

See my other tweet for the full story. pic.twitter.com/JBkQSVG5qI

— Grummz (@Grummz) June 18, 2024

The man from the Sekigahara Rifle Corps said he believes this design “would have been impossible at the time.” In other words, Ubisoft didn’t research the historicity of the flag; they just took something they thought looked cool and put it in their period piece game. Recall as well that Japanese gamers commenting on the Assassin’s Creed Shadows trailer were saying that some of the game’s architectural designs were Chinese, not Japanese, which Ubisoft effectively admitted when they promised to fix them. These are the same people insisting to anyone who argues that Yasuke, the black man who is the co-lead of the game, was a samurai in real life, as he’s depicted in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Why should anyone take their word for it when they make such glaring historical inaccuracies? And as that other user said, if they admitted it was meant to be entirely fictional, some of these problems wouldn’t have popped up (although I think people would still question why they set their game in Japan for the first time and didn’t have a Japanese hero, and the Chinese architecture would still be a thing). But they roared about Yasuke being a real samurai, with Wikipedia editors going Orwell on everyone’s ass and changing the Yasuke entry on the site so it was more in line with Ubisoft’s fabrication.

User Theozilla has successfully removed the section from Wikipedia detailing the lack of proof of Yasuke being a samurai. Editors argue that this action represents another form of revisionism in favor of big corporations. He claims no source is needed to identify him as a Samurai pic.twitter.com/CxgCDE6rWW

— LearningTheLaw (@Mangalawyer) May 15, 2024

I have no idea if the Sekigahara Rifle Corps will sue over this, but I imagine it can be fixed by removing the flag from Assassin’s Creed Shadows and substituting it for another – perhaps, if they’re feeling really kooky, something that actually existed during the time period in which the game takes place. But whatever happens (unless the  Sekigahara Rifle Corps decides to be exceedingly nice about this), it’s another expense for what must already be a very expensive game, and one that is getting more bad press and drawing more ire from gamers seemingly by the week. And given Ubisoft’s financial situation, Assassin’s Creed Shadows needs to be a hit – which, given the tumultuous month or so it’s had so far, means this needs to be a fantastic game that will make people overlook this nonsense to play it. And one of the comments on one of Grummz’s posts about this situation made a great point: why bother hiring these woke, DEI-obsessed consulting firms like Sweet Baby Inc. if this is the result? Aren’t they all about cultural sensitivity? Shouldn’t they be doing some research and making sure the games they tinker with are respectful of the cultures they’re depicting? Or does their work stop at “make the samurai black”? That’s the good thing to come out of this: it exposes the emptiness and vapidity of these wokesters who care much more about projecting their phony righteousness than in “representation.”