Ubisoft has issued a statement to the Japanese community who are concerned about some cultural aspects of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, namely Yasuke. The promotional materials used for the game included Yasuke, an African man who is one of the game’s protagonists. This caused some arguments online regarding the historical accuracy of the character.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has two protagonists: Yasuke, and Naoe. Yasuke is based on an African man who was taken to Japan in 1581 and served daimyo Oda Nobunaga. But his becoming a samurai is where Ubisoft took some creative liberties. The discourse on social media that followed was immense, to say the least, and was recently exacerbated by Elon Musk’s opinion that this was just an “injection of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
In Ubisoft’s statement, the French video game developer states that history has always been an inspiration, and it is never its aim to be historically accurate. The statement went on to reveal that there have been positive reactions as well as a lot of criticism since the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Yasuke.
We share your passion for history and deeply respect your care for the historical and cultural integrity of your rich heritage. Our intention has never been to present any of our Assassin’s Creed games, including Assassin’s Creed Shadows, as factual representations of history, or historical characters. Instead, we aim to spark curiosity and encourage players to explore and learn more about the historical setting we get inspired by.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Yasuke isn’t the first time real historical characters have shown up in the series and been changed to fit the narrative. Leonardo DaVinci from the Assassin’s Creed 2 series is a prime example of that.
Ubisoft then apologized to the Japanese community for causing any concern through the game’s marketing material. The reason behind including Yasuke was that the original character had a very unique story and made for an ideal candidate to explore in the Japanese setting. And possibly to differentiate itself from the competition.
Since Naoe is also an option, the company essentially hinted that people who don’t want to pick Yasuke for whatever reason can just play through the game as Naoe.
Related:
Ubisoft Has Been Wanting to Make an Assassin’s Creed Game Set in Feudal Japan for a “Long Time”Assassin’s Creed Shadows will come out on November 15, 2024, on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Mac, and Amazon Luna.
