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Players Sign Petition to Cancel Assassin's Creed Shadows

Ubisoft doesn't show enough historical accuracy, according to Japanese fans.

Ubisoft

Assassin's Creed Shadows was first criticized for introducing an African protagonist in a Japan-set game, and now players accuse it of cultural disrespect and demand to cancel it.

A petition appeared on the internet, allegedly started by a Japanese player who is sure Ubisoft's upcoming game is full of historical inaccuracies, which indicates racism among the developers. In Shadows, you play either as stealthy shinobi Naoe or samurai Yasuke, who is based on a real historical figure.

According to the petition, now signed by over 36,000 people, Yasuke shown as a respected samurai is the problem worthy of shutting down Assassin's Creed Shadows.

The game is based on Japanese samurai and ignores the fact that samurai were a higher class of warrior class and should have been 'gokenin,' or servants of nobles," it says (via Insider Gaming.) "In fact, the first European to receive the title of samurai, William Adams (Miura Anjin), served Tokugawa Ieyasu as a 250 koku hatamoto. In this history, Ubisoft continues to misunderstand the nature and role of samurai. This is a serious insult to Japanese culture and history, and may also be linked to Asian racism. We call on Ubisoft to immediately cancel the release of “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” and show sincere research and respect for Japanese history and culture."

It seems like plenty of people agree with the sentiment. Interestingly, most of the comments were written in English, which makes me wonder how many Japanese players are actually angry at the developers because of this.

If you feel strongly about it, you can sign the petition too, although I highly doubt it will do anything and cancel Assassin's Creed Shadows, which will be out on November 15.

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Comments 17

  • Anonymous user

    > Interestingly, most of the comments were written in English, which makes me wonder how many Japanese players are actually angry at the developers because of this.

    Whats that supposed to mean? Assuming Japanese don't know English is even more racist

    5

    Anonymous user

    ·5 months ago·
  • Anonymous user

    日本に住んでいる私から言わせていただきますと日本人は弥助について怒っていないのです。
    文化が間違っていて正確ではなくとも問題ありません。それはただのフィクションなんだから。
    では日本人はなぜ怒っているのかというと歴史が間違っていてでたらめなゲームがフィクションではなく史実だとUBIが発言したからなんですよ。歴史を学ぶのに役に立つと表明している。だから怒っているんだ!
    要するにUBIがこの作品はフィクションであり俺たちが作りたかったゲームなんだって言えば問題なかった。
    実際はどうだ?間違った歴史を史実だと発言した上にAIアートを使い著作物を無断使用してる。
    日本文化に対してリスペクトの欠片もない。
    他にもいろんな問題を起こしているUBI、さすがに日本人は怒ります。彼らの発言のせいで弥助が侍だとWikipediaで勝手に書き換えられ一時的にページが消えている。フィクションのはずだった作品を史実だからと発言するからこういう問題が起きてしまい間違った日本の歴史を世に広まってしまう!それを阻止したいのだよ。専門家ですら弥助は侍かどうかわからないと言っているのになぜUBIは彼が侍であると確信できるのか?日本人はゲームを中止してほしいわけではなくしっかり謝罪したうえでこのゲームはフィクションであると表明してほしいのだ。なにもかも間違っているゲームを史実であり教科書の代わりになるを発言できる彼らは私には理解できません。
    日本のゲームでも海外の有名人物を可愛い女の子やカッコいい男に置き換えることは良くある話だが今まで史実だと発言した会社はあったか?ないよね?すべての会社はフィクションであると発言している。なぜUBIもそうしない?日本の歴史を置き換えたいのか?あの大人しい日本人が怒って仕方ない。でも署名はやりすぎだと思う方もいるかもしれませんが他に方法がなかったのです。日本人が考えた最終的な方法が署名なのです。彼らは今までの言動を謝罪してフィクションであると発言してほしい!それだけです。

    Deepl Translate
    As a resident of Japan, I can tell you that the Japanese are not mad about Yasuke.
    It does not matter if the culture is wrong and not accurate. It is just fiction.
    So why are the Japanese angry because UBI said that a game that is historically wrong and bullshit is not fiction but historical fact. They state that it is useful to learn history. That's why they are angry!
    In short, if UBI had said that this work was fiction and that it was the game we wanted to make, there would have been no problem.
    But what about the truth? They are using AI art and using copyrighted material without permission, in addition to saying that the wrong history is historical fact.
    They have no respect for Japanese culture.
    UBI is causing many other problems, and indeed, Japanese people are angry. Because of their statements, Wikipedia has taken the liberty to rewrite Yasuke as a samurai, and the page has temporarily disappeared. Because they make statements about a work that was supposed to be fiction because it is historical fact, problems like this occur and the wrong Japanese history is spread to the world! We want to stop that from happening. How can UBI be so sure he is a samurai when even experts say they are not sure if Yasuke is a samurai or not? The Japanese don't want the game cancelled, they want an apology and a statement that the game is fiction. I don't understand how they can say that a game that is wrong in every way is a historical fact and can replace textbooks.
    It is common in Japanese games to replace famous foreign characters with cute girls or cool guys, but has any company ever said that it is historical fact? No, right? All companies have said that they are fictional. Why not UBI too? They want to replace Japanese history? Those quiet Japanese people can't help but be angry. But there was no other way, even though some might think that signing the petition is too much. The signature is the final way the Japanese thought of. They should apologize for what they have said and done and say it is a fiction! That's all.

    1

    Anonymous user

    ·4 months ago·
  • Anonymous user

    Are you guys for real your gonna sit there and defend Ubisoft!? lol no they F'ckd up big this time... I've been a fan since the first game what they're doing now is what Disney and Hollywood are doing going full on DEI which I'm sorry is not correct to do its ruining art and all franchises. its shoving a belief down everyone's throats hmmm do they really wanna go down this path cause the last time this sorta stuff was a thing was when religious rulers lost their positions of power across the world we the people won back then and we will win again if the media world really wants to get into it. and some of you really need to do some heavy research about what is really going on. first of all the team that is making this game are all women I am also a woman saying this proudly that the original team should be the only ones making any of these assassins creed games lets get that in order its super sexist that it is an all woman team c'mon... seriously??? secondly The Black Samurai, also known as Yasuke, was a real-life African warrior who served as a samurai in Japan during the 16th century. He is considered to be the first foreigner to be given the title of samurai in Japan. thirdly he is not gay in real life he had a family so they messed up his whole true story its about them lacking respect and they're lying as a company saying oh this is historically accurate Bull shit! also if you guys have checked out the gameplay you'll notice all kinds of flaws a big one is Hip Hop music playing in the background while fighting as the black samurai that is the cheesiest/cringe shit lol there was no hip hop sorry back centuries ago.   and there's the agenda make everything creative but it has to include gay stuff or gender swapping where they'll make an iconic male character all of a sudden a female that never existed in the first place that is what Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are throwing a big fight over right now about the new Deadpool Wolverine movie the "higher ups with agendas" wanted to introduce a self made character that's not in any of the history of marvel  its a female wolverine lol complete garbage they need to stop trying to push this shit down peoples throats its pathetic and embarrassing and a waste of time and money.  hopefully it does get canceled or have a major redo like other games have. if it wasn't for the fans these corporate companies wouldn't be shit lets all remember that fun fact. also put the petition on this website if not then don't false advertise.

    0

    Anonymous user

    ·4 months ago·
  • Anonymous user

    請願書に署名してください。

    Please sign petition.


    1

    Anonymous user

    ·4 months ago·
  • Anonymous user

    Because Ubisoft made Japan look very barren, not as beautiful as 'Ghost of Tsushima,' the Japanese people got upset

    0

    Anonymous user

    ·5 months ago·
  • Anonymous user

    Is there a petition to cancel the people petitioning to cancel the game. I'd sign that one.

    0

    Anonymous user

    ·5 months ago·
  • Anonymous user

    I don't know what you saw but the petition made more than 20,000 before foreigners started to notice it.
    We Japanese are not angry that Yasuke is the main character. We are angry that by placing him it became a game of black man killing Japanese. Also the way he fights is no samurai at all like smashing a club and stomping into the head.
    Furthermore, there are tons of borrowed images from the net -with no permission- are found on their imageboards. This is no professional.

    0

    Anonymous user

    ·5 months ago·
  • Anonymous user

    I honestly don't really care if it's inaccurate or not it's a damn video game not a movie. Movies are held with higher regard in the accuracy aspect so whine all you want bit don't cancel a game becuase of one character

    2

    Anonymous user

    ·5 months ago·
  • Anonymous user

    This is like trying to claim a movie is racist because they used artistic license to create a fictional narrative based on factual information, because it's common information that doesn't require further explanation, to help the story along in their functional world.  

    I bet a good portion of the people signing this petition enjoy anime and/or manga... which is entirely fictional but loosely based on Japanese history.  Is that also racist? Or is it only racist when  non-Japanese people (aka, in this case, white people) so the same thing?  Which would be racism...

    Imagine anglos telling Asians they can't make a movie about America because it's racist due to the inaccuracies.

    1

    Anonymous user

    ·5 months ago·
  • Anonymous user

    Just don't buy the game then, the same people signing this thing want to play as a japanese person apparently don’t think women are people seeing how you can literally play as a female Japanese shinobi, stop rage farming, its clearly not that big of a deal in japan lol, i just think its funny how this wasn’t such a big deal for the white guy in the shogun tv show or the white guy in the nioh games but as soon as a black man is introduced they cry, stop hating your life and be normal and just enjoy stuff , allow the rest of us to play it.

    2

    Anonymous user

    ·5 months ago·

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