Ubisoft Responds To Assassin's Creed Shadows Controversy As Petition To Cancel The Game Nears 100k

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Ubisoft has responded to the backlash surrounding its upcoming game. After many years of fans being extremely vocal in their desire for the history-hopping series to visit Feudal Japan, Japanese fans have raised concerns surrounding the depiction of the country and its culture at this time, notably with regard to the appearance of Yasuke, an African man who was one of Oda Nobunaga's attendants but has been depicted as a samurai in the game.

Taking to the official X account, Ubisoft has addressed this controversy, stating that the company "" the care Japan has for its rich heritage, but despite aiming to encourage players to learn more about the historical settings depicted in the game, the intention behind the titles has been to tell a "," rather than factual representations of history.

The studio then went on to explain that it has "" with external consultants, historians, researchers, and internal teams at Ubisoft Japan to inform any creative choices. It also went on to address that while Yasuke is depicted as a samurai in, the studio acknowledges that this is "" due to the real-life figure's "" and this has been woven into the game's narrative.

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As a response to footage shown of the title, a petition was launched to cancel the game in June 2024. This soon picked up traction and has nearly reached 100,000 signatures at the time of writing. The petition states that Japanese samurai were "" and accused Ubisoft of ""

This got to the point that a member of the Japanese government even launched an investigation into the title, intending to bring it before the country’s legislative body, the Japanese Diet, as he criticized Ubisoft for "" in a series of posts on X. Ubisoft's latest statement acknowledges that all footage of the title presented so far is in development, and assures fans that it will "" until launch, based