Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has called out and denounced the racist backlash and "hateful acts" towards Assassin's Creed Shadows and its adaptation of Yasuke, the first black samurai.
For the last decade or so, if you asked any Assassin's Creed fan what time period they most wanted to see the series take place in, almost all of them would have replied with Feudal Japan. That's exactly why Shadows, previously known as Red, has been such a big deal since it was revealed. Despite this, there's been a massive amount of backlash towards the game over the past few months.
Sadly, the complaints and backlash towards Assassin's Creed Shadows have mostly had nothing to do with the quality of the game itself or how it adapts the series' formula. Instead, it's all been centred around the fact that one of the two playable characters, Yasuke, is black, which many have labelled as "woke" despite him literally being a real historical figure.
Ubisoft CEO Calls Out "Hateful Acts" Against Assassin's Creed Shadows
Yasuke's presence in Assassin's Creed Shadows has resulted in a ton of racist remarks, hate, and claims of it being forced diversity, with one comment even coming from X CEO Elon Musk, who said, "DEI kills art", in response to the reveal. It's been a few months since Shadows was unveiled, but Ubisoft's CEO, Yves Guillemot, has finally called out these remarks in an interview on the studio's website.
The interview mostly focuses on Assassin's Creed Shadows' reveal and Ubisoft's upcoming portfolio of games, but there's one section where Guillemot is asked what "dismays" him about the gaming industry right now. In response, Guillemot says that he's concerned about the "malicious and personal attacks" that have been directed at Ubisoft, which is clearly referring to the backlash towards Shadows.
"One thing I am concerned about right now is the malicious and personal online attacks that have been directed at some of our team members and partners. I want to make it clear that we, at Ubisoft, condemn these hateful acts in the strongest possible terms, and I encourage the rest of the industry and players to denounce them, too."
Guillemot says that Ubisoft condemns these "hateful acts in the strongest possible terms" while encouraging the rest of the gaming industry and players to do the same. He also says that he's proud to support the work of his team and will always trust their "creative choices", something that he says should be celebrated alongside the hard work that goes into making games.
This isn't the first time that someone involved with Assassin's Creed Shadows has called out the negative reception to its reveal and use of Yasuke. As reported by VGC, Assassin's Creed series vice president executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté was asked about the response in an interview with Game File, and said that Elon Musk was "feeding hatred" with his tweet and that he purposefully ignored it.
