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Ubisoft Issues Apology to Japanese Gamers for Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Video Games

| Jul 24, 2024 |

The pressure over Assassin’s Creed Shadows has gotten to Ubisoft. Since the game’s trailer debuted, Ubisoft has been inundated with complaints from gamers, mostly those in Japan, over its disrespect for Japanese history and culture. The highest-profile issue is the use of Yasuke, a historical black man who lived in Japan and served as a vassal for Nobunaga, as one of the main characters instead of a Japanese man. Specifically, Assassin’s Creed Shadows depicts Yasuke as a samurai. In the months since that reveal, the historical inaccuracy of Yasuke’s status as a samurai has been established, with the historian who created that narrative outed as a fraud who’d spent years using underhanded means to fabricate support for his bogus claim. There are other issues as well, such as architecture and designs that are Chinese instead of Japanese, the use of a modern reenactment flag with the rights holders’ permission, and even the use of a katana from the manga One Piece.

This resulted in intense backlash from Japanese gamers, a song criticizing the game and Ubisoft, and even a mention by a Japanese politician with the suggestion that official action may be taken against Ubisoft. Yesterday, it all became too much, and Ubisoft released a sort-of apology, which reads more like an attempt to cover themselves from criticism:

The statement was also released in Japanese:

This indicates that the backlash against Assassin’s Creed Shadows is not a small group that is being amplified on social media but a significant number of people who are angry and offended, particularly in Japan. But, as I’m sure you expected, games journalists are having none of it, with a series of articles and X posts calling anyone who complains about Assassin’s Creed Shadows a racist. Of course, they obfuscate the fact that much of the backlash is coming from Japan, preferring to suggest it’s racist white Americans who have a problem with black people in video games. I don’t want to link to the articles because I’d rather not give these disingenuous sites traffic, but Mark Kern has collected a series of screenshots that will give you an idea of what the journalists said:

IGN even changed one of their articles so it acknowledges that there’s no proof the real Yasuke was a samurai:

The funniest part of this is that these gaming websites are clearly trying to run interference for Ubisoft, but they’re actually making it worse by negating the developer’s attempt to quell the anger directed at them and their game. How are the Japanese gamers going to react when they see these media shills calling them racists, even if they’re masking it as an attack on Western gamers? But the replies to the Japanese version of the Ubisoft statement indicate that they’re not exactly satisfied:

I don’t blame them, since Assassin’s Creed Shadows appears to have been designed to mock Japanese culture. Aside from the historical inaccuracies and plagiarized artifacts, the gameplay footage shows a black guy walking around feudal Japan decapitating Japanese people as rap music plays while Ubisoft goes on and on about how it strives for historical accuracy (until it’s no longer convenient).

Things aren’t looking good for Ubisoft in the near future. The company’s stock dropped two months ago, and now, it’s having to dance around the financial prospects for Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws with its investors. According to That Park Place, at a recent sales call, a representative for investor Barclay’s asked why their sales projections were so low, and the answer from Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot, was effectively a “no comment.” The Barclay’s rep then asked if Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which Guillemot said was “the most ambitious title in the series,” would therefore be its best-selling Assassin’s Creed game. Guillemot answered that they expected it to be “among the high sellers of the company so far,” which is a no. Ubisoft screwed up royally with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and they’re going to be paying for it for a good while now.

Comments (3)

comicsgate
July 25, 2024 at 4:29 am

Psyop AgiProp. Psychological Operations and Agitation Propaganda. That’s what this game is. An attack on Japan’s culture. They are trying to get Japan to accept a Great Replacement. Rahm Emanuel wants them having open borders and mess with their sexuality. There is no question that this is weaponized and this is how they do it.
It’s been used on the west for so long that most westerners do not recognize it or realize it. Another people that see it, but in a different way, are the Irish. Small towns in Ireland are getting flooded with invaders, wiping them out in one stroke, an entire people gone. All they have to do is get you to repeat the lie one too many times, that it’s a strength to be overwhelmed and outnumbered, and there goes your political power and autonomy, right out the window!

    Alex Gherzo
    July 25, 2024 at 10:39 pm

    I’m glad for them that they saw through this immediately, and they’re not letting up. I wish the West would take notes.

      comicsgate
      July 26, 2024 at 7:51 am

      The real snake in all this is Alyssa Mercante, who is using this to make a name for herself by condemning the Japanese nation and it’s people.
      Mercante would turn Tokyo into Chicago and laugh about it. This is why you never listen to nor support people like Mercante, Frosk or other mentally deranged Libtards.

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