The problem with Ubisoft and the new “Assassins’ Creed”


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It seems that incompetent developers, “narrative consulting firms” and glassy-eyed journalists go hand-in-hand for yet another perfectly avoidable controversy regarding a poorly researched and developed product.

But no worries, Ubisoft says. We hear your anger, your frustration. In response to their rising unpopularity, they decided to bring back “Assassins’ Creed,” but this time with a Black samurai protagonist, Yasuke, who is reportedly based on a real-life man who fought under Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga in the 1500s. However, Ubisoft earned no love whatsoever when they put trap music over a gameplay showcase of their new character fighting, then had to issue an apology to the Japanese community over the debate on whether he was even a real samurai.

I am not going to debate on whether the man named Yasuke was real or not and whether he was a samurai. That will be up to the Japanese historical community, who are well-versed and genuinely passionate about that period. What I am here to discuss is the New York Times’ hilarious pooh-poohing of the whole thing as “just another right-wing Western white male rage” incident almost reminiscent of the “Gamergate 2” incident months back (which I have previously written about). In an article titled “The Fight Over a Black Samurai in ‘Assassins’ Creed Shadows,’” Zachary Small interviews Ubisoft, a historian and some “cultural experts” throughout. “Assassins’ Creed” executive producer Marc-Alexis Cote claims he has tripled the budget for researchers, incorporated Japanese studios into the development team and taken feedback from Japanese play-testers.

If what he said is the case, then Cote and the team who developed the game should be ashamed. Chinese architecture was used for buildings and even showcased in demos and was called out as such. Flags from entirely different periods were depicted as authentic. Not to mention, of course, the afore-mentioned usage of trap music for a Black character … because … why? Some have come to the creators’ defense, including journalist Jade King, who wrote “‘Assassins’ Creed’ Doesn’t Care About Historical Accuracy, and Neither Should You,” ignoring the fact that previous games, while obviously fictional, did in fact take deep pains to keep certain things factual. Clothing styles, names, attitudes and environments were all kept as true-to- history and well-researched as possible. I am not expecting “Assassins’ Creed Shadows” to be a one-to-one recreation of feudal Japan, but I think anyone who wants a quality “Assassins’ Creed” product would hope that the developers at least stressed how much they got the smaller details right. It seems this standard of quality, like with many other video game development companies, no longer exists.

While Small gushed over Ubisoft, he also introduced Kazuma Hashimoto, a “Japanese consultant and translator for the video games industry,” who claimed that reception was positive in Japan (ignoring the aforementioned four-page apology Ubisoft had to send to Japan) and claimed that “it was people in the West who were upset” about the game’s inaccuracies. Hashimoto would have greater credit to this argument if it weren’t for the fact that he is not a Japanese national, as Small says, but an American from Alaska, according to his own tweets, which he, of course, (very bravely) privated and deleted. It was also discovered that his LinkedIn showed he had worked for the “narrative consultancy firm” Sweet Baby Inc. from 2020 to 2023 (evidence of which was also privated and deleted). You may remember that company name from a previous article I wrote, where they attempted to harass and suppress a Brazilian man nicknamed “Kabrutus” for simply cataloging what games they worked on. Failing to suppress him, they then used media outlets to attack their opponents, then got security agencies like the FBI to “investigate” them. Hashimoto has also written a rather insane diatribe on “Animal Crossing New Horizons,” headlining that it related to “Japanese Colonialism” without explaining how exactly “Animal Crossing” related to such a subject. Flailing clowns should not be taken as experts on any subject, but Hashimoto’s dubious associa- tions seem to have been deliberately or incompetently overlooked by Small.

The New York Times article bounces back to Cote, who emphasizes “our source material is not Wikipedia” and that “authenticity also needs to blend into a fanciful game world where characters might leap off buildings into leaf piles.” Funnily enough, Wikipedia agrees with Cote, Hashimoto and the rest of the historians who do back the Yasuke claim: the majority of sources on the page revolve around “African Samurai” by Thomas Lockley, including first and second- hand sources. Ubisoft’s inspiration primarily derives from Lockley’s book as well, thus invalidating any claim Cote had in distancing the company from Wikipedia.

The entire defense for the upcoming “Assassins’ Creed Shadows” seems to be relying on nothing but posers and people linked to previous politicization scandals, such as Hashimoto with Sweet Baby Inc. and its surrounding controversies. Even if the game turns out to be the greatest mas- terpiece of 2024 — doubtful, given Ubisoft’s latest track record — the current promotion campaign journey for this game is reminiscent of previous flops and cultural flame wars: a game does something that could have easily been avoided or tackled better, and then the following response by the industry’s drones — or rather, respectable workers in media and “narrative consulting firms” — only make it look even worse with roundhouse accusations that anyone who dis- agrees with them is automatically a racist.

This was completely avoidable, but it seems the mistakes from this latest clown show were not lessons learned from last time, or for that matter from the previous nine or so years, and will continue to decline consumers’ trust in these institutions, something which they openly wonder how that could be the case. See also my previous Lawrentian writings on NPR and Uri Berliner’s op-ed against it, and how an extensive decline in integrity for cheap points only hurts, not helps, journalism.

Anyways, “Assassins’ Creed Shadows” comes out on Friday, Nov. 15. As I was writing this article, Ubisoft showcased a cartoon figurine of Yasuke with a destroyed pillar. Upon closer inspection, the pillar itself was modeled from the Torii Gate. The Torii Gate has deep cultural symbolism in Japan as a memorial to the Nagaski bomb- ing on Aug. 9, 1945. Despite the increased budget for “sensitivity” and “cultural” consultants, this still managed to happen. Ubisoft also canceled its appearance at the Tokyo Game Show on Tuesday, Sep. 24.

Don’t buy it. Stick with “Ghosts of Tsushima” or “Black Myth Wukong.”