Just in case you needed another reason to hate Ubisoft and their efforts to culturally colonize Japan’s most coveted historical period, which features the revisionism of a historically insignificant figure into a makeshift Samurai warrior of whom such “accolades” come from a Western author who fictionalized history by writing a book based upon falsified Wikipedia entries.
We’ve already extensively covered how Ubisoft seems determined to offend the Japanese with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, featuring Yasuke, a black Samurai warrior in feudal Japan as the main protagonist.
This game disregards historical accuracy to push a progressive DEI-fueled agenda. The game is being written by Westerners at Ubisoft’s Quebec division, whose senior writer has previously stated that cis white men are privileged in the games industry and that there are more than enough white male protagonists in games.
Ubisoft themselves wanted “non-Japanese eyes” to portray the game’s Samurai protagonist.
Yasuke’s fabrication as a Samurai was popularized by the Western author Thomas Lockley, who wrote two books on the supposed historical figure based on falsified Wikipedia entries, filling in gaps with his creative penmanship.
For a franchise like Assassin’s Creed, which has genuinely tried to accurately represent various countries and cultures with its fictional but authentically representative characters, this is a disappointing turn.
From featuring a half-Native American and British protagonist during the American Revolution to playing as an Italian during the Renaissance, venturing across 9th-century England as a Norseman from Norway, and taking on the role of an Islamic character during the Islamic Golden Age in Baghdad, Assassin’s Creed has always been sincere in authentically representing the origins of its protagonists in respect to the game’s backdrop.
Fans have been practically begging for an Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan, a country renowned for its Samurai warriors and Shinobi ninjas. However, upon the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, many fans were furious with the depiction of Yasuke as one of the game’s protagonists.
For the first time ever, an Assassin’s Creed game allows players to play as a real historical figure, but in the case of Yasuke, he barely had any tangible historical remnants to his name apart from a fantasy book written by Western author Thomas Lockley.
Yasuke, a black man seemingly abandoned in Japan, was discovered by Oda Nobunaga, who apparently liked his dark skin. He allegedly served as a retainer to his lord, and that’s pretty much all the credible information there is about this mythical figure. His entire legacy today is merely the result of White “professors” making up stories of him being the first non-native Samurai, the first black Samurai, despite no such claims ever being true.
Yasuke was chosen by Ubisoft entirely to push a falsified narrative, disregarding historical accuracy. Yasuke is nothing more than a scapegoat for Ubisoft to garner easy ESG diversity points while hiding behind the defense of racism to ward off criticism.
This is why consumers are furious with the game, especially the Japanese, who not only started a petition which has exceeded 80,000 signatures to cancel the game but also made a mock music video to show their displeasure at having their historical ancestry mercilessly colonized.
Now Ubisoft finds themselves in more hot water with the Japanese after mishandling the collector’s edition statue for the game, which included linguistic errors and historical inaccuracies.
They’re being called out for their supposed immersive experience for Assassin’s Creed Shadows at Japan Expo, which features cheap props and a replica sword for Roronoa Zoro from One Piece, allegedly being passed off as Yasuke’s very own katana.
Ubisoft kicked off its Assassin’s Creed: Shadows exhibition at the “Japan Expo” French trade show, the largest Japanese cultural expo outside of Japan, which began on July 11 and concludes on the 14th. The main purpose of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed immersive experience is to offer visitors a chance to “experience a part of Japan.”
Their exhibit features various Assassin’s Creed: Shadows-themed activities and decorations with a Japanese motif, as the game is set during Japan’s most coveted and well-documented historical era, the Sengoku period. Despite the rich historical backdrop, there is an overwhelming lack of actual truths regarding its protagonist, Yasuke, being a samurai.
In typical fashion for the French company whose Canadian employees have transformed a historically insignificant figure like Yasuke into a makeshift samurai warrior, their entire expo is an insult to Japan’s culture, essentially vandalizing it.
Ubisoft is being accused of buying nonsensical props off Amazon and similar sites for use in their supposedly historically accurate immersive experience. This is evident from the fact that observant individuals have noticed that Yasuke’s katana featured in the expo is actually a replica prop from One Piece.
If you’d like your own Yasuke artifact, you can purchase his very sword from swordsofnorthshire.
Ubisoft truly is the gift that keeps on giving. They can’t even be bothered to have a distinct replica katana produced that looks like the one Yasuke uses in the game itself, as that would be too costly.
To keep overheads low, they opted to buy a conventional sword from one of the most revered and popular Japanese anime/manga franchises ever, One Piece, a globally recognized series.
It’s not like One Piece is a beloved and long-running series or anything. Who would ever notice that an “authentic” prop was actually a replica sword? Just as it wasn’t hard for others to point out that the props Ubisoft put together for its Japan Expo space were mostly cheap items that could be purchased for 2,000 yen on Amazon.
Ubisoft’s Expo is a shameful display of incompetence from a game company that seems to have abandoned respect and rationality in pursuit of Western financial gains, aligning with Blackrock’s progressive policies and diversity agendas.
Each of Ubisoft’s actions increasingly highlights their incompetence and failure to genuinely embrace inclusivity across diverse cultures. Their focus on promoting the narrative crafted by author Thomas Lockley, who based his work on a fictionalized version of history sourced from Wikipedia, only exacerbates their dubious scheme.
Their entire expo is viewed as a symbolic vandalism and betrayal of Japan’s rich cultural heritage. Despite Ubisoft’s claims of adhering to global agendas and employing DEI consultants to prevent cultural offenses, the reality appears quite different.
DEI efforts seem more like a money laundering scheme, failing to accurately depict or represent the Japanese people. Instead, Ubisoft’s actions seem intent on antagonizing and disrespecting the Japanese, distorting their history to fit a narrative featuring a fantasy Black samurai warrior loosely based on a historical figure during the Sengoku period.
Players will be able to take control of Yasuke as they maim, slaughter and decapitate Japanese enemies to the backdrop of Japanese oriental tunes remixed with EDM.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is now facing significant backlash, with over 80,000 gamers pledging to boycott the game. Many gamers, understandably, find satisfaction in the games impending failure.
