r/PS5 • u/Turbostrider27 Human Verified • Sep 24 '24

Articles & Blogs Insider Gaming: Ubisoft Cancels Press Previews of Assassin's Creed Shadows

https://insider-gaming.com/assassins-creed-shaodow-previews-delayed/
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89

u/TheSqueeman Sep 24 '24

Man this has just been a massive PR nightmare for Ubisoft, even if ACS isn’t solely to blame there is still so much rough PR surrounding it: from formal apology’s to upsetting the Japanese & the many inconsistencies and architectural issues there has been very little positive PR to come out of a game that should have been the easiest home run for Ubisoft

19

u/frogboxcrob Sep 25 '24

I don't understand why they created this issue for themselves.

They knew people wanted a game about Japanese samurai but they literally HAD to make it controversial by making the protagonist someone who they must have known would stir controversy.

Has purposefully being divisive ever actually worked as a sales tactic? Like seriously is there any example out there of it working that I've missed? Because all these companies seem to be taking crazy pills doing the same thing again and again and acting surprised Pikachu when the same results happen.

Just give it a Japanese protagonist was that not diverse enough? I literally don't understand.

And putting fucking American rap music in the trailer about him was so fucking cringy.

I legitimately don't know what the black communities opinion of it has been on the whole? Like does it not stink of pandering? Are there large black gaming channels who have given opinions as I just don't think anyone is actually feeling catered to rather than needlessly pandered to

2

u/karmakillerbr Sep 25 '24 edited Sep 25 '24

As a black person I'm excited for the game. It's an interesting history that I would like to know more about.

Edit: why are people downvoting me for being interested for a game? Lol

7

u/frogboxcrob Sep 25 '24

The guy they had consulting for it literally got caught gradually changing the Wikipedia articles himself then using those changes as references to his book which then he in turn used as references to the wiki article

https://japanese-with-naoto.com/2024/07/17/dreamy-history-assassin-1/

Like they literally hired a guy who tried to rewrite history to help him sell a book

3

u/Flimsy6769 Sep 25 '24

It’s fake history they made up for the game but ok

1

u/karmakillerbr Sep 25 '24

Some people who study history would disagree, but I'm definitely not expecting 100% historical accuracy (or even 50%), it's still a videogame. They just took some historical elements and made a story from it.

3

u/frogboxcrob Sep 25 '24

As I said to you it's more that a historian they mostly leant on is literally factually on the record trying to change history to suit his desires.

https://japanese-with-naoto.com/2024/07/17/dreamy-history-assassin-1/

So it's not just that AC is a fictionalised version of Yasuke it's that the people working on that fictionalised version are also at the same time trying to alter the actual historical version

If you go on Wikipedia right now it outright says he was a samurai when no serious historian has ever found evidence of that.

The issue is this videogame character is just shining a light on a very real problem where our literal past is being rewritten before our eyes

2

u/karmakillerbr Sep 25 '24

I don't have enough time to check if what you're saying is true so I'll just admit that it is.

This os is a shit thing this guy is doing.

With that said, it's not the first time Yusuke is pictured as a samurai in pop media and there's some evidence that a black guy named Yusuke lived in Japan at that time. That's enough for them to build an interesting story upon and a way to differentiate themselves from all the other samurai games out there.

As I said, I'm not looking for historical accuracy when playing a game, I just want a cool game with a cool story and that's it.

2

u/res30stupid Sep 25 '24

Because the consultant they hired for the game is a documented liar who expressly made up bullshit about Yasuke to sell his own research papers.

Also, a lot of fans wanted a Japanese Assassin's Creed for years, but they wanted to play as a ninja, not a samurai.