It looks like Ubisoft's finally had it with the Assassin's Creed Shadows outrage mill: 'When we self-censor in the face of threats, we hand over our power'

pcgamer.com:

If you've been following the general discussions around Assassin's Creed Shadows, you'll have probably noticed—if you've had the stomach for it—a great deal of fury about the game's lead characters. From Elon Musk taking swings for some unfathomable reason, to over-placating apologies from the company itself, to the game's subreddit having to instate new rules to get people to please shut up about it, it's been a headache and a half.

Speaking at a BAFTA event (thanks, Eurogamer) in London, franchise head Marc-Alexis Coté has given Ubisoft's biggest outright condemnation of this behaviour so far. First, though, some context:

The dual protagonists shown off for Assassin's Creed's upcoming instalment are a shinobi, Naoe, and a samurai, Yasuke. Yasuke's based on a 16th-century figure, an African who went on to be a retainer to Oda Nobunaga—this is also far, far from the first time he's shown up in media, both Japanese and otherwise. My personal favourite is the vampire swordsman Nagoriyuki from Guilty Gear: Strive—though that's mostly because his theme slaps.

Yasuke is, in other words, a great pull for a series like Assassin's Creed, which has a charming tendency to «what if» historical figures into larger-than-life versions of themselves. For example, one game has you climbing inside Leonardo Da Vinci's tank and blasting people to death, and while it's based off one of his designs, he also never built the thing. Not to mention, there's a scene where beloved italian stabber Ezio Auditore finds a recording left by an alien.

Despite the fact that Yasuke being represented as a samurai is both a common occurrence in Japanese media and a complete non-event to anyone familiar with the series (and not just engaging in outrage tourism) Ubisoft's felt the need to be oddly meek about the whole thing, with the company's CEO holding his hands up recently to reassure the public that Assassins Creed doesn't have a political agenda.

Which is why it's nice to see Coté finally push back