Street Fighter II and Monster Strike developer Yoshiki Okamoto addressed the backlash against Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
The game has received significant backlash both in the West and Japan. Recently, a petition from Japanese gamers accuses the game of being “a serious insult to Japanese culture and history and can lead to racism in Asia.”
It goes on to call for Ubisoft to stop developing it, “We call on Ubisoft to immediately discontinue the launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and show sincere research and respect for Japanese history and culture.”
The petition has nearly 50,000 signatures.
Screenshot of a petition calling for the shut down of Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Change.org
The game has also been heavily criticized for pushing a DEI and woke agenda. X user Ian Miles Cheong wrote, “Should Ubisoft delay Assassin’s Creed Shadows in response to widespread backlash over the game’s injection of DEI? The game is so thoroughly woke that it features a black gay protagonist depicted as a ‘real historical samurai’ in Japan. Offensive beyond belief. No one asked for this.”
X CEO Elon Musk commented in a reply, “DEI kills art.”
Elon Musk on X
As initially reported by Automaton, Okamoto addressed the backlash and shared his opinions on the game in a YouTube upload. He noted, “I’m aware that this game is currently facing all kinds of backlash, but I’d like to talk about things from a more positive perspective.”
Specifically, he discussed the game’s dual protagonist system with Yasuke being more a brute tank and Naoe being a stealthy ninja. Automaton’s Amber V, who translated portions of the video and described others, detailed that Okamoto is excited about this system because it was something he attempted to create with his games Genji: Dawn of the Samurai and Genji: Days of the Blade, but never achieved.
He noted, “We weren’t able to pull it off at the time, but I think Ubisoft will, which is why I have high hopes.”
READ: Ubisoft Accused Of Stealing Banner From Japanese Reenactment Group For ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’
As far as criticisms of the game’s historical and cultural representation, Okamoto downplayed them saying, “It’s a game, it’s fantasy, not reality. Even if Oda Nobunaga’s family crest is upside down, that’s just the Oda Nobunaga in the game, it does not impact how entertaining the game is.”
This is a very naïve view as games such as Assassin’s Creed Shadows are not just being made as games. They are not made for escape and entertainment. They are made for indoctrination. This is documented on Ubisoft’s website.
The company’s VP of Global Diversity and Inclusion Rashi Sikka notes, “For Ubisoft, putting diversity and inclusion at the heart of everything we do means providing an environment where employees can thrive, building open-minded communities where players can connect, and creating games that reflect the diversity of the world we live in.”
Sikka concludes, “We will not accomplish all these goals overnight. Just as it takes years of iteration to develop a AAA title, we will only become a more diverse and inclusive company by continuously improving, trying new ideas and learning from the results. It’s a long-term commitment, one that we will tackle with the same passion and dedication that we bring to our games.”
A screenshot from Ubisoft’s Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility website
In fact, a section titled “Content” on their website reads, “We will create gaming experiences that push representation forward by embedding diversity and inclusion across our processes, increasing representation in our teams, and offering access to resources that help teams to build more authentic inclusive, and accessible gaming experiences.”
A screenshot from Ubisoft’s Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility website
Not only is this publicly stated on the company’s website, but we’ve seen numerous entertainment companies attempt to rewrite history through their television shows, movies, and video games. One of the biggest examples is Netflix’s Cleopatra documentary, which depicted Cleopatra as a black woman played by Adele James.
In an op-ed in Variety, the director of the documentary admitted she was engaging in a political act by making Cleopatra black, “Doing the research, I realized what a political act it would be to see Cleopatra portrayed by a Black actress. For me, the idea that people had gotten it so incredibly wrong before — historically, from Theda Bara to Monica Bellucci, and recently, with Angelina Jolie and Gal Gadot in the running to play her — meant we had to get it even more right. The hunt was on to find the right performer to bring Cleopatra into the 21st century.”
She added, “Why shouldn’t Cleopatra be a melanated sister? And why do some people need Cleopatra to be white? Her proximity to whiteness seems to give her value, and for some Egyptians it seems to really matter.”
Adele James as Cleopatra in Queen Cleopatra (2023), Netflix
Later in the op-ed she added, “Perhaps, it’s not just that I’ve directed a series that portrays Cleopatra as Black, but that I have asked Egyptians to see themselves as Africans, and they are furious at me for that. I am okay with this.”
She would even admit, “So, was Cleopatra Black? We don’t know for sure, but we can be certain she wasn’t white like Elizabeth Taylor. We need to have a conversation with ourselves about our colorism, and the internalized white supremacy that Hollywood has indoctrinated us with.”
A posthumous painted portrait believed to be of Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt that is now located in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples depicts the ruler as a white woman with reddish and brown hair.
posthumous painted portrait of Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt from Roman Herculaneum, made during the 1st century AD, i.e. before the destruction of Herculaneum by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius; it is located in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Photo Credit: Ángel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, España, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
READ: Baldur’s Gate 3 Actor Claims Diversity-Driven Storylines are Being Cut Throughout the Gaming World
On top of this, the backlash against Assassin’s Creed Shadows has resulted in the world’s largest and most viewed digital encyclopedia, Wikipedia, removing the ability to alter Yasuke’s Wikipedia page.
X user politicalawake reported at the end of June, “Wikipedia has now removed the ability to alter Yasuke’s Wikipedia page. None of the sources they use to justify their false claim that Yasuke was a samurai are Japanese they are all Western. Leftists are the masters of historical revisionism.”
Wikipedia has now removed the ability to alter Yasuke’s Wikipedia page.
None of the sources they use to justify their false claim that Yasuke was a samurai are Japanese they are all Western.
Leftists are the masters of historical revisionism. pic.twitter.com/WJLj4NABBP
— 🇯🇵 Colonel Otaku Gatekeeper 🇯🇵 (@politicalawake) June 28, 2024
Furthermore, Jon Favreau made it abundantly clear that Hollywood and video game companies like Ubisoft do use their entertainment vehicles to pass down “values” to the next generation.
Favreau explained during an appearance at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit, “That there are life lessons that are in these stories, that carry on the tradition and speaking to [George Lucas] he felt that the western was the genre that helped teach a generation of people coming of age about the value systems that are espoused by that genre, and that Star Wars part of that responsibility is remembering that part of your audience is a whole generation that’s coming of age and through stories we express our values to the next generation. And so one of the things he said was not to lose sight that this is the main audience for stories.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 08: Jon Favreau attends the Ahsoka panel at Start Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 08, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)
It’s clear that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is not just a game, and it is not just a fantasy. It’s a tool in a culture war to rewrite history.
What do you make of Okamoto’s comments?
NEXT: ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Makes Franchise History With Most Disliked Trailer Of All Time
