Hot on the heels of the premiere of the Assassin’s Creed Shadows trailer, a former contractor who worked with Ubisoft has stepped forward, claiming that his proposal for a historically accurate Assassin’s Creed game set in Feudal Japan was overlooked in favour of more progressive protagonists. A female and a black samurai called Yasuke.
The ex-contractor (@InfinitaleComic) posted on X about his involvement in pitching a Japanese-era Assassin’s Creed game during his tenure with Aeria Game Studios (now Gamigo) in 2013. @InfinitaleComic says that he is extremely disappointed with the franchise’s decision to black-wash Japanese history, and specifically referenced Ubisoft’s decision to include a black samurai, Yasuke and a kunoichi-boss, which is historically incongruent to say the least.
Detailing his role in an unreleased build of Assassin’s Creed: Memories for iOS, the former contractor disclosed his contributions to crafting historical lore documents and a story treatment for a mainline series title set in the Sengoku Era of Japan. His story line centred around a protagonist named Yamauchi Taka, a young monk who becomes entangled in a conflict surrounding the Sword of Eden wielded by Oda Nobunaga.
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In contrast to Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which features a black samurai Yasuke and Naoe, his pitch focused solely on Taka and his exploits within the Assassin Brotherhood, which included confrontations with figures like Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
@InfinitaleComic did say that although his proposal did not feature a black samurai Yasuki or a female ninja protagonist, it did include a scenario where Taka and Hanzo were tasked with assassinating a noblewoman who had trained “hot ninja chicks” to become kunoichi.
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He also noted that his pitch was designed with potential for sequels in mind, although his contribution to the story ended with Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s demise and did not extend to the end of the Sengoku Jidai era. @InfinitaleComic says that he has since moved on from the industry.
Game designer Mark Kern (Grummz) is sceptical over whether the game was changed to include a black samurai Yasuke however, and after posting on X: “So @Ubisoft apparently CHANGED Assassin’s Creed Shadows, throwing away the original story and instead running with Yauke, an obscure black retainer of Nobunaga, as front and center. An Ubisoft writer who worked on the game says the original story was completely different. (Thanks @MangaLawyer) This gels with what employees at Ubisoft tell me: That Ubisoft is completely locked down with DEI and is the most oppressively studio to work at, as DEI is everywhere. Yasuke himself is a footnote in the Nobunaga story. Nobunaga was fascinated with the color of his skin and he was kept as a retainer until Nobunaga was betrayed and slain. Yasuke fought part of that battle but surrendered and was imprisoned. Not much is known about him, but Ubisoft decided to run with it anyways,” Grummz added that: “I have other sources that I trust that are telling me that the story might be unchanged, after all. I can’t go into specifics, but this original poster might not have had the full story.”
Let us know in the comments whether you think the Assassin’s Creed Shadows story was changed to include black samurai Yasuke.
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