Cancel Assassin’s Creed Shadows demand angry Japanese gamers furious at Ubisoft’s lack of ‘cultural respect’

Anyone who has been online for more than five minutes in their life instinctively knows that Ubisoft’s first-ever depiction of the Land of the Rising Sun in an Assassin’s Creed game is going to surprise more people than most.

Now you can hardly accuse an Assassin’s Creed game of being steeped in historical accuracy, but showing two main characters bearing no resemblance to the historical setting they’re placed in is going to upset those who are big fans of accurately representing cultures and things of the sort.

In Assassin’s Creed: Shadows First of all, the woman – Naoi – is a made-up ninja. So what can you say. The second character, Yasuke, seems to be the one that a lot of people objected to.

In real life, the African Yasuke served for a short time as a vassal or retainer under the warlord Oda Nobunaga. In AC Shadows he is a full-fledged samurai.

Does it matter? Japanese gamers think so Starting a Petition Which said (in part):

The game is about the samurai of Japan and ignores the fact that the samurai are the upper class of the samurai class and must have “gokejin” or nobles who serve them. In fact, William Adams, the first European to receive the title of samurai, was a man in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu as a bannerman of 250 koku.

In this history, Ubisoft misunderstands the nature and role of the samurai. This is a serious insult to the culture and history of Japan, and may also amount to anti-Asian racism. We urge Ubisoft to immediately halt the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and show honest research and respect for the history and culture of Japan.

The petition has a goal of 35,000 signatures and, at the time of writing, that number is approaching 29 thousand.

Not that it would make a difference. There are too many issues with the game being described as accurate while those signing off on the situation believe it’s completely fictional.

However, one comment said, “This is a falsification of history. We can’t just watch and allow this to happen. Furthermore, the game’s content and the producer’s response show no respect for Japan. It is intolerable to see black samurai slaughtering Japanese people. I object to this.”

We’re looking forward to the time-honored tradition of good old-fashioned review bombing.