Assassin's Creed: Shadow chooses Yasuke, a real "black samurai" from the history of feudal Japan, as one of the playable characters. His presence has sparked a fierce confrontation in the overseas game circles in the recent war-torn game content "correctness". But this time, not only European and American players are dissatisfied, but Japanese players are also a little unbearable.
As some players have pointed out, Assassin's Creed, even though Valhalla has recently been accused of employing the "right" company, Sweet Baby Inc., has always featured people born and raised in the region it is set in.
Japan, which has a history of ninjas and "assassins", is also the country that players most want Assassin's Creed to go to. Of course, this also includes fans of the series in Japan. However, when they finally waited for their country to be chosen as the setting location for the series, they were disappointed that the male characters had become foreigners.
Ubisoft Japan's Japanese dubbed version of Assassin's Creed: Shadow CG trailer has been teased by many Japanese players who have expressed their dissatisfaction. At present, the number of likes of this trailer is more than 1,700 times, and the number of likes is as high as tens of thousands, and it is still growing rapidly (YouTube has turned off the number of clicks display, so this is a background estimate displayed through the browser plug-in, which is not entirely accurate).
Many Japanese gamers have pointed out that they are also very aware of the "correctness" that is currently prevalent in the West, and they do not pay for it at all. One player asked, "Who is this game for?" Some players pointed out that a black man was simply "standing out from the crowd" in Japan at the time, and how to sneak up - this is one of the main questions raised by many players.
One thing I learned today is that players all over the world know that Ubisoft is a "potato server". In the comments, there are a large number of Japanese players who sneered at Ubisoft, and some people pointed out that there are many Japanese architectural and cultural errors in the trailer, but said that Ubisoft can't even fix the potato server, and there is a high probability that it will not be corrected.
Some players said that they decided to buy "Ghost of Tsushima".
On social media, the English-speaking community summarized the reactions of some Japanese players, including comments that directly accused the game of black people slaughtering Japanese people on Japanese soil. Some players also said that they wouldn't be particularly disgusted if Yasuke appeared as the main supporting character, but the main character was Japanese. Others again pointed out the issue of building shooting in the CG trailer, saying that it is more like China.
As for whether the current culture war will affect the game's sales, it will depend on the game's financial report after its launch in November. This time, Ubisoft, like the pre-order for Star Wars: Outlaws, included exclusive launch content in the expensive premium version, which led to criticism from many players.
However, according to an earlier earnings report, 2023 saw a "record" number of bookings and excellent gross revenue. While the revenue boost was driven by the resurgence in popularity after the Rainbow Six Siege update, the only viable way for players to be unhappy with the game company's approach is to vote with their wallets.