Assassin’s Creed Shadows just released another trailer, and fans are not exactly happy. Thus far, the trailer has attracted about 682 thousand viewers, which is not that much for a triple-A game. However, it is the dislikes that people are talking about. Since last checking, they managed to accumulate about 19 thousand likes, and 72 thousand dislikes. That is not a good ratio at all. Now, there are a number of reasons why fans are responding to this trailer in such a negative light. Since the first introduction of the game, fans have been resisting the story.
Over the last couple of years, Assassin’s Creed has done a good job of capturing certain historical events and paying respects to the culture. While they were never historically accurate, they did at least try to represent the time period. They created Assassins Creed origins that played off in Egypt. To this day, it is one of my favorite games. They created Assassins Creed Odesy and beautifully captured the Roman Empire. While Valhalla might not have been what people expected, they did a great job paying their respects to the Vikings and Norway.
None of these stories are historical masterpieces that you can teach in school. However, that changed when Assassins Creed Shadows was announced. Originally, Ubisoft took pride in how accurate their game was going to be. They stated that “Assassin’s Creed is well known for its depiction of the history and accurate recreation of the world, and it’s what players can expect with the Assassin’s Creed Shadows. We’re showing real historical figures, such as Oda Nobunaga, and a lot of events that happened during that time, so you’re not only playing in feudal Japan but learning about this fantastic time period.”
The Assassin’s Creed Historical Accuracy Walkback
If you have not figured it out by now, all of the drama revolves around one of their lead protagonists. He is a black samurai, and many feel that this is not an accurate description of Japan at that time. Even if he was historically accurate, surely there are other Asian samurai that you could have used to highlight Japan. If I want to celebrate African tribe culture, I am not going to highlight a white dude from Australia. Even if he is historically accurate and existed, surely I would rather use native African people instead. It does not matter how accurate the story of the Australian white dude is. It is not appropriate to talk about the African Tribe culture.
Thus, after all of the backlash, Ubisoft decided to respond to all of the backlash by stating, “esteemed Japanese community,” Firstly, we want to express our heartfelt thanks for all your support for the Assassin’s Creed series, which now has its own history spanning almost 20 years. Over this time, we have explored various settings, time periods, and characters, from an Assassin during the Third Crusade to a Viking in 9th century England and countless more. For many of our team, creating an Assassin’s Creed game set in Feudal Japan has been a long-cherished dream.
Since the announcement of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, we have received many positive sections but also some criticism, including from you, our Japanese players. We share your passion for history and deeply respect your care for the historical and cultural integrity of your rich heritage. We would like to address a few points to clarify our intentions and creative decisions:
Overall Authenticity Efforts
We have put significant effort into ensuring an immersive and respectful representation of Feudal Japan. However, our intention has never been to present any of our Assassin’s Creed games, including Assassin’s Creed Shadows, as factual representations of history or historical characters. Instead, we aim to spark curiosity and encourage players to explore and learn more about the historical settings we get inspired by. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is, first and foremost, designed to be an entertaining video game that tells a compelling historical fiction set in Feudal Japan.
Our team extensively collaborated with external consultants, historians, researchers, and internal teams at Ubisoft Japan to inform our creative choices. Despite these sustained efforts, we acknowledge that some elements in our promotional materials have caused concern within the Japanese community. For this, we sincerely apologize. All game footage presented so far is in development, and the game will keep evolving until launch.
Based on the constructive criticism we have received, we will continue our efforts until we put this game into your hands – and beyond. We also want to clarify that while we have been consulting with many people throughout the development process, they are in no way responsible for the decisions that are taken by the creative teams in the interests of gameplay and entertainment. Consequently, we respectfully request that any criticism not be directed at our collaborators, both internal and external.
Creative Liberties And Historical Inspirations
While we strive for authenticity in everything that we do, Assassin’s Creed games are works of fiction inspired by real historical events and figures. From its inception, the series has taken creative license and incorporated fantasy elements to craft engaging and immersive experiences. The representation of Yasuke in our game is an illustration of this. His unique and mysterious life made him an ideal candidate to tell an Assassin’s Creed Shadows; we acknowledge that this is a matter of debate and discussion.
We have woven this carefully into our shinobe Naoe, who is equally important in the game, our dual protagonists provide players with different gameplay styles. We greatly value your feedback and encourage you to continue sharing your thoughts respectfully. While we understand that meeting everyone’s expectations is very difficult, we sincerely hope that when Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches on November 15, players in Japan and around the world will appreciate the dedication, effort, and passion we have poured into it.“
Why Assassin’s Creed Shadows Matters To Ubisoft
That was quite a long-winded response from the Company. The success of this title matters to Ubisoft. Much of this revolves around profit Margin. While Ubisoft made 2.2 billion dollars last year, they ended in the red with a total loss of 60 million dollars. This also heavily affected their stock prices, which have lost over half its value over the last five years. While game sales have not been terrible for the company, they could not deliver on any other metric. Companies like EA and Activision Blizzard at least have massive live service games to fall back on.
Fifa continues to be a cash cow for EA, and Warzone makes billions for Activision Blizzard. Ubisoft has not had any live service successes. They also tried to compete against Xbox by making their own version of the game pass called Ubisoft Plus, but that also failed. They have 17 thousand employees, while most of their main competitors have half the staff complement. This has resulted in Ubisoft desperately trying to make money. Sadly, this is what happens when you serve your investors and not your customers. They can be making millions every year, but since the corporate suits want billions, they need to take bigger risks.
This means pushing out more games every year. Sadly, that means bug-invested titles that barely run. It also means including horrible monetization options in their games that fans hate. Currently, it feels like Ubisoft has no real direction. While they have the talent to produce great games, the hype is no longer there.
Conclusion
It is impossible to assess the real hype around the current trailer. Not only is the like-to-dislike ratio bad but the comment section is filled with bot accounts leaving positive reviews. I think this game does not look horrible. It is just sad that they allowed social issues to ruin what could have been a great release and a much-needed win.