Ubisoft reportedly cancelled an Assassin’s Creed set in post-Civil War America due to US politics and Yasuke backlash

Ubisoft allegedly canceled plans to make a new Assassin's Creed game set after the American Civil War last year due to online complaints. Assassin's Creed Shadows Co-hero Yasuke and concerns about the instability of the current political climate in the United States are cited as reasons.

This is stated in the report Game filewhich states that the game would have starred a former black slave who moves from the South to the West in search of a new life. He was subsequently recruited by the series' “Killers” and returned to the South in a story that would involve confronting the rise of the Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction era, spanning the 1860s and '70s.

Game File quotes current and former Ubisoft employees as saying that the game, which was in the concept stage, was canceled in July 2024. Ubisoft executives reportedly pointed to the online crisis in response to black samurai Yasuke being revealed as one of the main characters of Shadows as the reason for this move, as well as concerns about the current political climate in the US. The latter is said to have been the deciding factor in the cancellation. As one Game File source put it, the game was seen as “too political in too unstable a country.”

Ubisoft's difficult financial situation This was also reported to be a factor in the decision, causing executives to avoid perceived risks. “I was terribly disappointed, but not surprised by management,” one source told Game File. “They are making more and more decisions to maintain the political 'status quo' without taking any position, taking any risks, not even creative ones.”

I've reached out to Ubisoft for comment.

Ubisoft's approach to the Yasuke controversy has been quite topsy-turvy with the Shadows developers. defending your work while control types such as General Director Yves Guillemot tried to use the old “no politics in a video game, please stop thinking we can have thoughts to express in this video game” excuse.

It's not like the company hasn't supported games that dealt with issues like slavery before. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flagfavorite recording this a remake or remaster is reportedly currently in progresssegued into Freedom Cry, which tells the story of former slave Adewale fighting to free the slaves in Saint-Domingue. Assassin's Creed III: Liberation touches on similar themes as you'd expect by creating games set in periods of history where colonialism and its consequences had a major impact on society and people's daily lives.

You might be able to understand risk aversion if you just look at the bottom line, but it's disheartening to see a game that its developers talk about so enthusiastically get thrown out the window due to the state of America today. If anything, it would make releasing a game that explores these themes even more important and commendable.