Ubisoft Issues Statement Addressing Criticism Over Yasuke Depiction In Assassin’s Creed Shadows

The Ubisoft development team behind the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows has issued an apology on X in English and Japanese to their Japanese fans. This apology addresses the backlash to the game mainly due to the inclusion of Yasuki a Black Samurai. The developers mentioned that “despite these sustained efforts, we acknowledge that some elements in our promotional materials have caused concern within the Japanese community”. “For this, we sincerely apologize”. They agree that Yasuke being a samurai is a matter of debate “While Yasuke is depicted as a samurai in the Assassin’s Creed Shadows, we acknowledge that this is a matter of debate and discussion”.

The Assassin's Creed Shadows team has a message for our Japanese community. pic.twitter.com/AIyWNU9YhG

— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) July 23, 2024

The lack of historical documentation on Yasuke who was the servant of the Oda Nobunaga makes it debatable whether Yasuke was a Black samurai or not. However, a post by the famous historian Hirayama says that the Nobunga granted Yasuke samurai status.

なんか、織田信長に仕えた黒人の弥助の話題になっているみたい。彼に関する史料はかなり乏しいが、信長に仕える「侍」身分であったことはまちがいなかろう。出身の身分がどうであれ、主人が「侍」分に取り立てれば、そうなれたのが中世（戦国）社会。なんでそんなことが言えるかといえば、①信長より「…

— K・HIRAYAMA (@HIRAYAMAYUUKAIN) July 19, 2024

The team doesn’t want criticism to be directed to the other people and experts associated with the game so it wrote “We also want to clarify that while we have been consulting with many people throughout the development process, there are in no way responsible for the decisions that are taken by the creative teams in the interest of gameplay and entertainment”.