Rumor: Ubisoft Delayed 'Assassin's Creed Shadows' To Reduce Yasuke's Role
A new rumor alleges that Ubisoft delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows to reduce the role of Yasuke in the game.
This rumor comes from Francesco Solbakk at That Park Place who wrote, “A That Park Place source has confirmed that Ubisoft delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows in order to make narrative cuts that severely limit the role of Yasuke in the story.”
He reiterated, “According to our source, the €20 million delay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows was not merely to polish the game, but to shift focus away from Yasuke as the main protagonist.”
Solbakk noted that parts of the game that were cut included “quests tied to his suppose rise as a samurai” as well as “dialogue changes … where Yasuke was previously presented as a samurai and celebrated for his renown among Japanese NPCs.”
Furthermore, he shared that cutscenes were reworked to make it feel like “Naoe has taken the lead role.”
He also shared that one source informed him that “the most egregious inaccuracies were related to Yasuke’s portrayal, and efforts were made to mitigate these issues.”
This rumor is not at all unheard of. At the end of September after Ubisoft initially announced it was delaying the game to February, Tom Henderson at Insider Gaming claimed that Ubisoft was “changing some of Yasuke’s story and how he’s portrayed in the game”
He also noted the company was “fixing architectural details, and ensuring that the game is historically grounded while fitting into the Assassin’s Creed universe.”
Furthermore, Henderson also shared “that historical experts were brought onto the project much later than usual for a project of this magnitude and that miscommunication between teams and cutting corners when it came to the approval process of assets to meet deadlines” resulted in “many of the historical and cultural concerns” that have been raised by gamers.
YouTuber Endymion also shared at the end of September that Ubisoft was making changes to Yasuke. He said, “One of the things for sure getting removed from Shadows, according to my sources, is indeed the rap, hip-hop music for Yasuke. Apparently Ubisoft brought out a questionnaire and they were unanimously told that the rap music was tonally wrong and completely unneeded. And that it was actually offensive that Ubisoft believed Yasuke needed a hip-hop battle theme in a game that was set well before such music existed and it was only implemented ’cause Yasuke was black.”
“So that’s going to be gone for sure,” he declared.
“They are also going to be removing dialogue from the game that according to my source told me that it would actually enrage players it they heard it,” he added. “I wasn’t given concrete examples of what kind of dialogue but the source assumed it may have been Yasuke saying some sort of sociopolitical pandering nonsense about he was sold by white men or something and that he hates white men and white supremacy must be abolished and such.”
“They’re also removing this because, of course, if that were in the game it would absolutely be highlighted and used to detract even more people from supporting the game in the future,” Endymion shared.
What do you make of this latest rumor regarding Assassin’s Creed Shadows and why Ubisoft delayed it?
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Too little and too late.