Ubisoft responds to the Assassin’s Creed: Shadows petition

While it is true that Yasuke is a Japanese legend, there is debate over whether or not he was actually a samurai. As a result, there has been a petition doing the rounds, calling out Assassin's Creed: Shadows for basing the new game on the character. Now, Ubisoft has officially responded.

Ubisoft seems to be primarily concerned about the perception from Japanese players, with the statement specifically noting “concern within the Japanese community”.

The Assassin's Creed Shadows team has a message for our Japanese community. pic.twitter.com/AIyWNU9YhG

— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) July 23, 2024

In its statement, Ubisoft rightly points out that the Assassin's Creed games, while inspired by historical settings, has never been a game grounded in historical accuracy. There are plenty of artistic liberties taken in each game in the series, going all the way back to the first game:

“While we strive for authenticity in everything we do, Assassin's Creed games are works of fiction inspired by real historical events and figures. From its inception, the series has taken creative license and incorporated fantasy elements to craft engaging and immersive experiences. The representation of Yasuke in our game is an illustration of this. His unique and mysterious life made him an ideal candidate to tell an Assassin's Creed story with the setting of Feudal Japan as a backdrop.”

Ubisoft also adds that it collaborated with  consultants, historians, researchers and its internal team at Ubisoft Japan to make a game that is respectful to Japanese history. This of course does not mean that precise historical accuracy is being strived for here, after all, this is a series about two warring secret societies, magical relics and a far-future tech company that can hack DNA to relive events from the distant past, going back hundreds of years.

KitGuru Says: The petition situation around Assassin's Creed Shadows has been unfortunate to see. Personally, this is the most interested I've been in a new Assassin's Creed game since Origins. 

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