Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a game, not a history essay, Ubisoft reminds folks as it apologises for promo that’s “caused concern within the Japanese community”

Ubisoft’s issued a lengthy statement about Assassin’s Creed Shadows which sees it, among other things, apologise for some elements in the game’s promotional materials which have “caused concern within the Japanese community” and remind people that, you know, Assassin’s Creed games are designed to take some creative license with history.

You can read the statement — which was put out via the official Assassin’s Creed account and is attributed to Shadows’ development team — in full via the tweet below. If you’re wondering whether this is another chapter in the fairly bull***t-filled discourse about whether Yasuke was actually a samurai in real life, which has suddenly become an incredibly important issue to a lot of white guys who’ve attended one jiu-jitsu class and now think they’re experts on Japanese culture since he was revealed as Shadows’ protagonist, the answer is — at least in part — yeah.

First of all, Ubisoft reminded anyone who thinks that if you somehow brought Blackbeard back to life, he’d tell you how swell it was hanging out with Edward Kenway that Shadows, like all Assassin’s Creed games, is “first and foremost” designed to be an “entertaining video game”, one “that tells a compelling, historical fiction set in Feudal Japan” in this case.

So, there you go, your plans to submit it as an essay for one of your University history modules have gone up in smoke, idiots who just like to moan about Yasuke. Before we get to him though, the statement does see Ubisoft acknowledge and apologise for “some elements in [its] promotional materials” which have “caused concern within the Japanese community”. It didn’t specify what these elements are.

“All game footage shown so far is in development and the game will keep evolving until launch,” Ubisoft went on to state, “Based on the constructive criticism we have recived, we will continue our efforts until we put this game in your hands – and beyond.” It also requested that people refrain from directing critcism at those who’ve been working on the game both internally and externally.

Right, now the Yasuke bit. There’s almost an entire slide of the statement dedicated to the chat around him being depicted as a samurai, which sees Ubisoft acknowldge that this is “a matter of debate and discussion”, and state that he was chosen because his “unique and interesting life” made him a good candidate to serve as a protagonist for an AC game set in Feudal Japan. It’s important to note here that several historians, such as Yu Hirayama, have stated that the historical evidence they’ve consulted points to Yasuke having been a samurai.

So, there you go. If you like, you can now go and re-watch AC Shadows’ initial reveal to remember a time when people weren’t having to be reminded that it is in fact a video game.