With the announcement of the next major game in the Assassin’s Creed series called Assassin’s Creed Shadows (ACS), we might think Ubisoft is finally emerging after a rough period where the publisher was unproductive. Unfortunately, the drama has struck again causing the french company’s stock to plummet by nearly 16%, with the three videos presenting their new game to be heavily disliked on YouTube. While the Internet mainly debate about the character Yasuke as the main protagonist here, I see 3 broader issues that should raise red flags about Ubisoft’s future.
• Problem #1 – Game preservation rejected as Internet is now required to download video games. For those who purchase games physically on discs, the first issue I have with Ubisoft is them requiring an internet connection not to play their games but to install it. This means that the disc sold in stores does not actually contain a playable version of game and is unusable on that state. This obviously poses a problem for the game preservation once Ubisoft shuts down the servers , because they will shut down one day. Tomorrow, how we will be able to download Ubisoft’s PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series physical games? Not everyone wants or is able to play games right away right now, some people like being able to revisit their video games decades later, some other people purchase games as a retrogaming activity. This problem can easily be solved by having Ubisoft print their games on 2+ discs.
I know, ACS is not the first game Ubisoft is releasing on PS5 and XS with the disc having no playable game in it. They started doing this shit when releasing the Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora game in 2023 and they plan to do the same with Star War Outlaws later this year. How can they fuck the consumers and their own fans with no consequence, saying stuff like “people don’t care owning their video game purchases”? Most people do care because they care about money they can earn and spend on the month.
• Problem #2 – The mess of having multiple prices for a single video game, and for what contents? Have video games become a luxury product in the eyes of the publishers behind the most ambitious titles?
ACS has three tiers: the $70 tier, the $110 tier and the $130 tier (and incidentally the “subscriber tier” if you’re considering a monthly subscription for around €20). You would reply this isn’t unusual of course but I would like to point out that while we haven’t even yet seen a single gameplay clip, Ubisoft already announced multiple versions of ACS for you to choose to purchase right now. Those who pay these extra bucks also get to play 3 days (!!!) before the rest of the world. Paying +€20 for an early access? What kind of mindset is this? And that’s not even counting the $280 collector’s edition! We haven’t even seen anything of the game yet!
You want to say “Who really cares?” but you have to keep professional toward your all potential customers. Show me your game, after I see for what I spent money on. Does a “AAAA video games” industry deserve this elitist treatment?
• Problem #3 – Ubisoft has a “political creativity” crisis. All Assassin’s Creed’s fans were expecting for a long time a game taking place in Japan. Yet the surprise to have as
Since the game was officially announced, there have been many positive and negative reactions surrounding Yasuke. This is certainly what’s generating the most buzz online, overshadowing the two previous issues which shouldn’t be dismissed. There’s a real ideological battle raging over Yasuke today, to the point that his Wikipedia page has been edited numerous times and many publications (Kotaku, IGN, and others) are denouncing anti-Black racism (while simultaneously disparaging Asians because they’re “already overrepresented”).
Yasuke was a real historical figure in Japan, an African who served as a vassal to Oda Nobunaga for a time. Very little is known about him, which is normal since Yasuke was never a major figure in Japanese history, but the fact is that he was a foreigner was significant enough for the time to be recorded.
The Assassin’s Creed series is known for being based on real-world history, but the games don’t rely exclusively on historical facts. There’s a lot of artistic liberty in the portrayals of historical figures, and even original elements like alien technology. The mere presence of original characters shows that it remains fiction and not a “documentary game” as some imagine. And the great thing about fiction is that when you’re in charge of the media’s creativity, you’re free to tell whatever story you want—even if it’s crap. Many works of fiction use Yasuke and draw inspiration from him in their media; in video games, we can see Yasuke in Koei Tecmo’s titles. Netflix even made an anime about him, where he is also portrayed as a warrior.
The real issue isn’t the character of Yasuke itself or how he’s portrayed here. The real problem that few people are raising goes deeper: Did Ubisoft feel compelled to choose Yasuke over someone else for the sake of inclusivity? And did consultation studios forced Ubisoft to make this kind of decision? For several years now, we’ve seen within creative teams—whether in movies, TV shows, or now video games—the interference of consulting firms forcing changes to ideas, characters and stories in order to appeal either to “the masses” or to minorities. I’m the first to defend diversity, but you don’t fight inequality by force. Where is the creativity here?
• Here you go. The 3 problems I think are deeply hurting Ubisoft’s reputation.
I think the second point is debatable, since some people have actually taken these offers, and the real issue is more about purchasing power—even if it’s silly (because it should be included with the base game) to see a side quest as a pre-order bonus or to have to pay an extra third of the price for DLC that’s worth an additional €40 (and again, I know, Ubisoft isn’t the first to do this kind of thing, but seeing this has been starting to really get on my nerves for the past two generations now).
Ever since the first Assassin’s Creed on Xbox 360, ACS is the one that interests me the most because of its setting in feudal Japan, and I can’t wait to see the gameplay especially Naoe but these 3 issues mean I definitely won’t be playing this game, just like I won’t be playing Star Wars Outlaws which I was also very interested in. Seriously, as a game collector the fact that these games’s data aren’t stored in the discs you purchase is a deal-breaker.
We should instead criticize Ubisoft for milking other media too much. In any case, don’t fall into the trap of the drama surrounding Yasuke, which boils down to “are you a woke person or a racist?!?! .” The real question should be about Ubisoft’s creative independence and whether the decision to use the figure of Yasuke was truly intentional internally or driven by political demands influenced by political firms like Sweet Baby Inc.
