Assassin’s Creed Shadows developer on adapting Japanese culture, social media pressures and Ubisoft’s controversial apology

“Of course we’re making creative choices, it’s a video game.”

Image credit: Ubisoft

The world of Assassin’s Creed Shadows is beautiful. At Gamescom 2024 in Cologne last month, Ubisoft refrained from providing a fresh chance to go hands-on with its highly-anticipated upcoming epic – for that, we’ll have to wait just a little bit longer. Instead, the publisher gave press a look behind the scenes at more of the game’s visual prowess, via a presentation on Shadows’ environmental upgrades and new graphical fidelity.

Ubisoft’s vast virtual version of Japan features in the first Assassin’s Creed made solely for the current-gen of consoles – and it looks the part, with dense forests and towering mountains, dynamic weather and shifting seasons. The game’s exact technical specs are still to be confirmed, but I was impressed by its clear upgrade from other Assassin’s Creed games past, particularly in its eye-catching smaller details, such as rain running realistically down bamboo guttering, or stalls full of fruit you can topple, sending their contents scattering across a road.

Online, however, some of the response to Shadows has been less pretty. In June, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot condemned “the malicious and personal online attacks” directed at the game’s developers after its initial reveal. Separately, Assassin’s Creed franchise head Marc-Alexis Côté has spoken about having to take “a step back” rather than respond to criticism of the game on social media from X owner Elon Musk.

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The vast majority of online discourse has been centred on Yasuke, the historical figure Ubisoft has chosen as one of Shadows’ two protagonists. Yasuke, an African man who travelled to and lived in Japan during the era Shadows is set, is portrayed as a powerful samurai in the game. Musk, and others who benefit from stirring up controversy, have suggested Yasuke’s inclusion was a deliberate injection of “DEI” (diversity, equity and inclusion) at the cost of historical accuracy. Ubisoft itself, meanwhile, has discussed the choice of Yasuke as co-protagonist – alongside Japanese shinobi Naoe – as a deliberate choice that will allow players to “discover Japan through [Yasuke]’s eyes, the eyes of a foreigner”.

Fans have pointed out that Assassin’s Creed – a franchise whose story involves secret organisations and civilisations manipulating human history from the birth of Adam and Eve up to and including the Moon landings – has always embellished real-world events and added its own wacky narrative elements. And yet Ubisoft recently issued an apology for elements that might have “caused concern” among some Japanese fans, raising eyebrows.

Amidst all this, at Gamescom last month, I sat down with Assassin’s Creed Shadows art director Thierry Dansereau – a veteran of the series since Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and who has served as art director on Revelations, Syndicate, Odyssey and expansions for Assassin’s Creed 3 and Black Flag. Was it tough to work on such a high-profile project, I wondered, with so much noise going on in the background? “It’s good that our game has visibility,” Dansereau said.

Shadows’ world will change, looking and playing different across its four in-game seasons. | Image credit: Ubisoft

But what about those, like Musk, who are calling the team’s choices into question? “Of course we’re making creative choices,” Dansereau replied, matter of factly. “It’s a video game in the end, so we want to make the best experience as possible for our players.

“We’ve worked with a lot of experts, to just understand well the time period,” he continued. “We did a lot of our own work so we’re making sure we depict this world in a respectful way, while fulfilling the gameplay needs and making it entertaining.

“We’ve worked with Osaka and Tokyo studios [who’ve acted] as consultants, one of their art directors is involved and doing research in the field. We went there, we did a field trip as well, and we have Japanese experts living in Japan. We use them a lot to look at our assets, they play the game and provide feedback.”

So what about that statement? Ubisoft’s apology was vague on what it was actually apologising for, leaving it at best feeling like a polite acceptance it hadn’t got everything right amidst quibbles over concept art and contemporary flags but also, uncomfortably, simultaneously feeling like it was pandering to an audience keen to find offence. Shortly after the statement was published, the moderation team of the main Assassin’s Creed reddit banned all discussion of Yasuke’s role as a samurai in the game to avoid further vitriol being spread, and said Ubisoft’s statement had only “exacerbated” the online controversy further.

Image credit: Ubisoft

Acknowledging the statement, which he said he found out about when it was made public, Dansereau explained was still confident in the game’s wider reception at launch in November.

“There was a letter published by Ubisoft apologising to that group of people in Japan,” Dansereau said. “But something they need to know is we are working with experts, world-renowned experts, and if we have in any way offended [people] we are sorry but this is not the goal.

“We’ve paid a lot of attention to stay as respectful as possible to Japanese culture, but creative choices are made on our side, based on all the discussions we had with our own group of experts. We’re confident with how the game will be received.”

Image credit: Ubisoft

Finally, I asked Dansereau whether it was difficult to land the project while social media was alight with opinions on the team’s choices. And while he personally said he was unaffected, Dansereau said he knew some that had been.

“It’s a personal question – it’s up to everyone to see,” Dansereau said. “Do you read all the stuff that’s coming out? Are you spending a lot of time on social media reading all the comments? Are you staying focused? I know some people who get affected – social media platforms are a free space where people can do what they want.

“At the same time we’re very focused on shipping this title, on this last mile polishing the quality as much as possible. We know we have a great game in our hands. We’re proud of that and should stay proud of this game we’ve made.”