Petition accuses Ubisoft of insulting Japanese culture and Assassin's Creed Shadows should be cancelled

Assassin's Creed Shadows is the fourteenth installment in the AC series and is set in feudal Japan. The game, which is scheduled to be released on November 15, 2024, is already available Pre-ordered However, many in Japan want to stop the release of the latest branch of AC devices.

One Petition on Change.org Ubsisoft is accused of disrespecting Japanese culture and is calling on Ubisoft to cancel the game's release. The petition, which was launched on June 19, 2024, has garnered over 51,000 signatures. Criticisms include misrepresentation of the samurai's role, architectural errors, inaccurate costumes and seating arrangements, and the controversial portrayal of Yasuke, the first African samurai. The petition even mentions “Asian racism”:

The game is based on the Japanese samurai and ignores the fact that samurai were supposed to hold a higher rank in the samurai class and be “gokumen” or servants of the nobility. In fact, the first European to receive the title of samurai, William Adams (Miura Anupuri), was a standard-bearer of 250 koku in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu. In this story, Ubisoft continues to misunderstand the nature and role of the samurai. This is a serious insult to Japanese culture and history and can be linked to Asian racism.

At least when it comes to architectural errors, Ubisoft's game director Charles Benoit had one in mind. Interview with Game.Watch (In Japanese) They have already promised to eliminate these before the game's release. It remains to be seen if anything will change in the depiction of samurai. It is unlikely that Ubsisoft will let the petition prevent them from publishing Assassin's Creed Shadows. Ultimately, decisions regarding the release of a game rest with the developers and directors.

When I was a kid in the 90s, my Gameboy was my constant companion. After school, I played PlayStation. When I finally got my first computer, it was all over me. My passion for games has never waned since. For me, writing for Notebookcheck means reporting on topics that are very close to my heart – in addition to games, I also like to talk about e-mobility, photovoltaics or innovative gadgets. When I’m not sitting in front of the computer, I might be doing water rescue work on the Baltic coast or trying to confront the dark side of my obsessive life – that is, sitting for long periods of time – at the local swimming pool.