Ubisoft attempted to address historical 'authenticity' issues in Assassin's Creed Shadows and just made the whole situation worse

The team behind the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows, set in feudal Japan, published a statement on Thursday addressed to its "esteemed Japanese community," responding to "some criticism including from you, our Japanese players." Though the message is purportedly directed at Japanese players, it's only served to embolden criticism from a reactionary contingent of western players shouting about the notion that diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are ruining games. In this case the target is Yasuke, a Black historical figure who serves as one of Shadows' two playable characters.

Ubisoft's message states that the development team is dedicated to "ensuring an immersive and respectful representation of Feudal Japan," even though the Assassin's Creed games are not "factual representations of history, or historical characters." (My Italian history is spotty, but I don't think the real life Leonardo da Vinci actually built a flying machine capable of sending an assassin soaring over the rooftops of Venice.)

It continues: "Despite these sustained efforts, we acknowledge that some elements in our promotional materials have caused concern within the Japanese community. For this, we sincerely apologize." It offers reassurance that the game will "keep evolving until launch," then specifically addresses Yasuke's depiction as a samurai serving under warlord Oda Nobunaga in Shadows, acknowledging that the historicity of his life "is a matter of debate and discussion." The message was posted simultaneously in Japanese by Ubisoft Japan.

The reaction that unfolded on Tuesday speaks to the messiness of a situation that has some kernel of truth to it. Many have seen the letter as Ubisoft "feeding the trolls" by falling for complaints that largely stem from white western players and YouTube rage farmers, not actual Japanese players. But Ubisoft has also already condemned those reactionaries more than once: Assassin's Creed VP and executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté said in an interview with Game File last month that Elon Musk's response to Yasuke's inclusion—"DEI kills art"—is simply "feeding hatred." "What Elon says is not the game that we're building," Côté said.

CEO Yves Guillemot more obliquely referenced "malicious and personal online attacks that have been directed at some of our team members and partners" in a post on the Ubisoft blog, stating that "I want to make it clear that we, at Ubisoft, condemn these hateful acts in the strongest possible terms, and I encourage the rest of the industry and players to denounce them, too."

Those from Ubisoft statements make this one, once again defending Yasuke's inclusion, seem wholly unnecessary. But maybe the company felt pressured to respond after a Japanese senator—one of exactly two members of a fringe right-wing party—tweeted about the game being an act of "cultural appropriation."

It's true that some Japanese players have raised some criticisms of what little we've seen of Shadows that have nothing to do with Yasuke's presence. There was the use of a rifle infantry reenactment group's flag in concept art, tatami mats being square rather than rectangular in the debut cinematic, and a torii gate seemingly being placed at the entrance of a village in the gameplay walkthrough (though I don't want to put too much stock in a Reddit thread, people might have rushed to judgment on this one).

The overwhelming number of downvotes on Shadows' cinematic reveal trailer, though, hints at a reactionary backlash rather than mild disappointment with small details driving the narrative around Shadows. Whatever the reason Ubisoft felt pressured to reassure the small subset of players who did have genuine criticisms, Ubisoft's statement has given bad faith critics fresh cover for a new wave of attacks masquerading as "just asking questions" about historical accuracy.