Ubisoft appears to be accelerating its own downfall after doubling down on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives, with a focus on racial inclusivity that has resulted in observable racial prejudice and historical revisionism.
This is evident in the upcoming game Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, set in Feudal Japan, where Ubisoft has introduced a fictionalized portrayal of Yasuke, a Black man who allegedly historically served as a retainer to the famous Oda Nobunaga.
However, the game reimagines Yasuke as a mythical samurai warrior, distorting his role in history to fit a more fantastical narrative.
We are already familiar with Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and its DEI-driven cultural appropriation, which seeks to “Blackwash” one of Japan’s most iconic historical eras.
Ubisoft merely framed the fictionalized portrayal of Yasuke, a Black man reimagined as a samurai, based on the work of English-Jewish author Thomas Lockley, who has been criticized for editing Wikipedia entries for authenticity, Ubisoft themselves “apologized” to the Japanese people for its blatantly racist game with Yasuke’s depiction of a samurai warrior being “a matter of discussion.”
The situation has worsened as Ubisoft continues to hemorrhage funds and stock value, compounded by the commercial failure of Star Wars Outlaws. With the release of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows looming, the issue of Yasuke’s historical revisionism is now being defended by major outlets like The New York Times, moving beyond the echo chamber of gaming journalists.
A September 11th article from The New York Times, appearing to collaborate closely with Ubisoft, targeted gamers critical of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. Written by Zachary Small, the piece referenced a supposed Japanese consultant and translator who argued that the criticism was primarily coming from Western audiences relying on translation tools.
According to the consultant, the Japanese themselves were not offended by the game’s portrayal of Yasuke, not only as a protagonist but also as a reimagined samurai, dismissing concerns raised by critics.
Zachary Small interviewed several key figures from the Assassin’s Creed: Shadows development team, including creative director Jonathan Dumont, art director Thierry Dansereau, and franchise executive producer Marc-Alexis Cote, in an effort to address the widespread backlash surrounding the game’s ahistorical portrayal of its setting.
Marc-Alexis Cote is a well-known figure, particularly after expressing emotional distress when Elon Musk criticized his game, calling attention to its racial undertones and asserting that DEI initiatives stifle creativity. Cote admitted to being deeply affected by Musk’s remarks, which accused the game of compromising artistic integrity in favor of diversity-driven agendas.
Alongside providing these developers a platform to justify their creative decisions, Zachary also consulted Kazuma Hashimoto, a Japanese translator and consultant reportedly involved with the Western video game industry, to further support the defense of the game’s direction.
It was later revealed that this so-called Japanese consultant is a former employee of Sweet Baby Inc, a group known for pushing inclusivity and political ideologies in games, resulting in some of the largest commercial flops in the industry.
The company has faced accusations of race-swapping various protagonists in the projects they’ve worked on, as well as allegedly using cancel culture to pressure game developers into paying for their woke consultancy services
Kazuma Hashimoto, a fake name of course was also revealed to be a half-Japanese transgender man, born and raised in the West. Despite limited ties to Japan, they appear to be leveraging their partial Japanese heritage to lend credibility to their progressive Western perspectives of which must be pushed upon Japanese culture.
In her interview with The New York Times, Hashimoto stated, “It was people in the West who were upset with seeing Yasuke as a samurai.” Small further noted that Hashimoto claimed, “many of the negative online comments written in Japanese appeared to have been roughly translated from English.”
While it’s plausible that some foreign individuals engaged with Japanese content related to Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, especially given the overwhelmingly negative reception of its trailers, the notion that the Japanese audience has universally embraced Ubisoft’s fictionalized portrayal of a Black samurai without any resistance is complete nonsense.
The idea ignores the cultural sensitivities and historical significance that would likely spark criticism within Japan as well.
The upcoming game faced widespread criticism across all regions, particularly in the West, where many saw Ubisoft’s use of a historical figure as a vehicle to push DEI inclusivity quotas.
Japanese critics have also been vocal, expressing their discontent with Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. Some have gone so far as to create music videos condemning the game and conducting their own investigations into the truth behind Yasuke’s fictionalized samurai origins, which were crafted by an English-Jewish professor Thomas Lockley.
Additionally, Japanese critics uncovered Ubisoft’s use of stolen artwork and AI-generated material in promotional imagery, further fueling the backlash against the game.
If the Japanese people truly weren’t pushing back against the blatant mockery and race-swapping of their heritage by foreign game developers, why would Ubisoft feel compelled to issue a damage control statement in the first place?
It’s evident that the article in question, along with the historian defending Ubisoft’s actions, is deliberately obscuring the facts to downplay the backlash and justify the company’s creative choices, which of course were made to facilitate necessary diversity quotas rather than respect Japanese history.
Key facts, such as Ubisoft openly admitting in an interview with Japanese outlet Famitsu that they were specifically seeking a non-Japanese samurai for their game, have been conveniently overlooked, especially after the statement was removed once consumers caught wind of it.
Additionally, senior writer Giles Armstrong has publicly stated that White people hold privilege in the gaming industry and lamented the prevalence of White protagonists in games. Further adding to the backlash, a petition on Change.org to ban Assassin’s Creed: Shadows in Japan has garnered over 100,000 signatures.
Moreover, it was revealed that Hashimoto worked for Sweet Baby Inc. from February 2020 to April 2023, as indicated on their LinkedIn profile.
Hashimoto is not only a former employee of Sweet Baby Inc., but also an activist journalist with articles published in Polygon, Siliconera, Them, and several outlets owned by the GAMURS Group. Her body of work often reflects her advocacy for progressive causes within the gaming industry.
Mark Kern, also known as Grummz, shared an article by Hashimoto on Medium in which she criticized Animal Crossing: New Horizons for “acknowledging Japan’s history of colonial rule,” highlighting her previous efforts to inject political themes into video games and complain about them.
During her time at Sweet Baby Inc., Hashimoto provided consultation on various AA and AAA titles, including various unannounced projects for Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Insomniac Games.
Her contributions included researching and developing characters for both new and existing IPs, likely influencing the creation of the wheelchair-bound operator in Rainbow Six Siege as part of a blatant push for diversity and inclusivity in gaming, especially competitive shooters that revolve around rappelling and breaching into buildings.
She also assisted in foundational worldbuilding and character creation, wrote lore for gameplay maps and character backgrounds, and collaborated with teams to ensure authentic representations of marginalized individuals.
Furthermore, she provided constructive feedback during brainstorming sessions and sensitivity readings, and helped localize game scripts to preserve the original intent of character dialogue while ensuring grammatical accuracy in English.
This aspect of Hashimoto’s employment history raises significant doubts about the credibility of her assertions. The well-documented practices of both her consultancy and the gaming journalism outlet suggest that any commentary she provided regarding Shadows would likely be uncritically supportive of its “diverse” content.
As for pre-orders, rumors indicate that numbers for Assassin’s Creed: Shadows are dismally low. Traditionally, pre-ordering a video game served to secure a copy at a local store, which would only order a limited quantity for each title, often constrained by their allocation.
In the digital age, where consumers essentially purchase a license rather than owning the games they buy, pre-ordering has become largely unnecessary.
There’s no limited availability when everything is available for digital download through storefronts. Ubisoft has attempted to incentivize pre-orders by offering early access to games for those who opt for upgraded editions, encouraging players to spend more.
However, despite these efforts, pre-order sales have plummeted globally, which is not a valid excuse for poor overall sales figures.
With Amazon Japan figures showing Assassin’s Creed: Shadows performing poorly, it is being outsold by games like Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, despite it being horrible.
This ties into the fact that, during an investor call, Ubisoft outright refused to provide specifics on pre-order sales figures for Assassin’s Creed: Shadows compared to previous installments. When asked, the Ubisoft executive dodged the question, stating that the company does not disclose such figures.
Pre-orders for niche titles like Death end re;Quest Code Z and Compile Heart’s upcoming Madou Monogatari: Fia and the Mysterious School are surpassing the sales of this big-budget AAA release on Amazon, highlighting its underperformance in the Japanese region.
It’s ironic, yet telling, that Compile Heart games are currently more desirable than Ubisoft’s offerings. Japan typically embraces foreign titles that depict their culture, as evidenced by Ghost of Tsushima, which sold over 212,000 copies in its first week in Japan alone.
However, such success seems unlikely for Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, which, despite releasing across multiple platforms, is unlikely to replicate those numbers given the current sentiment. This disparity speaks volumes about Japan’s reception of Ubisoft’s latest portrayal of their homeland
It’s no surprise that Ubisoft and The New York Times would rely on questionable figures like Hashimoto, a so-called “Japanese” journalist to attack gamers and push the western blackwashing narrative onto one of Japan’s most iconic eras.
As a former Sweet Baby Inc. employee, Hashimoto, who publicly identifies as transgender and mixed race, seems to use their partial Japanese heritage to validate the racial agenda pushed by Ubisoft.
This strategy appears to align with the company’s efforts to force Black representation onto Japanese history, disregarding documented history and cultural realities in the process.
We’ve extensively covered Ubisoft’s commitment to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), emphasizing how diversity is a core value for the company to the point where they’re openly excluding men from the industry.
Yet, despite this focus, their recent releases have been financial flops. Star Wars Outlaws, their most expensive title to date in terms of marketing, saw influencers flown out for exclusive coverage and trips to Disney World likely to garner positive press.
Despite these efforts, Ubisoft’s share prices continue to plummet, currently trading at €12.22, down 28% over the last 30 days, 48% since January 1st, and a staggering 82% from five years ago.
The situation has grown so dire that investors are urging the family-owned French company to consider going private. Following high-profile failures like Skull & Bones, the self-proclaimed world’s first “AAAA” game.
If Assassin’s Creed: Shadows mirrors the commercial failure of Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft’s shares will likely tumble even further, plunging the company into a death spiral driven by poorly produced games that prioritize identity politics and forced diversity.
And rest assured, a fluff piece from a half-Japanese trans journalist, formerly of Sweet Baby Inc, the notorious consultancy known for pushing political themes and values into video games that consistently flop won’t salvage their mess.
The narrative that all the backlash against Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is somehow just Westerners pretending to be Japanese is nothing more than a desperate lie, and it won’t save Assassin’s Creed Shadows from its inevitable failure.
