Roughly 2 months ago, Ubisoft revealed the first cinematic of the fourteenth major installment in the Assassin’s Creed series, Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The trailer introduced fans to the game’s two protagonists, Yasuke and Naoe, and confirmed that the game is set in 16th-century Japan towards the end of the Sengoku period.
The game will be the first Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan but it seems like Ubisoft’s negligence will delay the game. Last month, a petition was filed to cancel the game since the depiction of a Japanese samurai is inaccurate and disrespects the Japanese culture.
Petition To Cancel Assassin’s Creed Shadows Has Crossed the 60,000 Mark
In June, a petition was filed on Change.org to cancel Ubisoft’s upcoming game, Assassin’s Creed Shadows because of the lack of historical accuracy and cultural respect. The petition, which was originally in Japanese, says,
The game is based on Japanese samurai and ignores the fact that samurai were a higher class of warrior class and should have been “Gokenin” or servants of nobles. In fact, the first European to hold the title of samurai, William Adams (Miura Anjin), served Tokugawa Ieyasu as a 250 koku hatamoto. In this history, Ubisoft continues to misunderstand the nature and role of samurai.
At the moment, the petition has received over 60,000 signatures, so Ubisoft needs to address this controversy soon. Everyone who supports the petition has highlighted that the game is disrespecting the Japanese culture.
This petition has been filed for the improper depiction of one of the protagonists in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Yasuke. The character is based on a real samurai named Yasuke, who served as a samurai to the Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga for a period of 15 months between 1581 and 1582, during the Sengoku period.
Legendary Game Designer Yoshiki Okamoto Supported Ubisoft
Amidst all this chaos, Yoshiki Okamoto, a Japanese game designer who has worked on popular video game franchises like Street Fighter, Monster Strike, and Red Dead, has pointed out that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a “fantasy.” In a now-deleted video posted on YouTube, Okamoto claimed (via Automaton):
I’m aware that this game is currently facing all kinds of backlash, but I’d like to talk about things from a more positive perspective – It’s a game, it’s fantasy, not reality. Even if Oda Nobunaga’s family crest is upside down, that’s just the Oda Nobunaga in the game, it does not impact how entertaining the game is.
The game will allow players to control two characters differently and provide a unique gameplay style, allowing quests to be approached in different ways.
The petition doesn’t mention anything regarding the other protagonist of the game, Naoe, a shinobi. This is mainly because Naoe is a fictional character.
The game’s director, Charles Benoit, explained in a video that Yasuke was a foreigner discovering Japan, and he was the perfect protagonist since players will also be discovering Japan.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is all set to be released for PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S, macOS, and iPadOS on November 15, 2024. Do you think this petition would delay the game? Share your opinions in the comments!
