As long as they are depicted as accurately as possible that's the important thing. Such as this "lady ninja" AI just generated for me. View attachment 125351
It's a pretty ridiculous debate. The AC series is 'based' in history, but picks and chooses its degree of accuracy. I've enjoyed the last few in the series, some of the few games I've sat down and spent time with in the last few years. In one recent AC game, you are a Viking in medieval England… you are (spoiler) a reincarnation of Odin. In another, you sail the seas of Ancient Greece and hang out with Socrates, before killing Medusa and visiting Atlantis.
Very fun games, but the noise on the Internet is about as justified as any of the noise when people are crying about wokeness, representation, etc. Far more people complaining about it than actually play the games. People were complaining for a year before it even came out. None of them have even sat down to play it.
Shigeru Ishiba, the Prime Minister of Japan, responded to a question about Assassin’s Creed Shadows today during an official government conference meeting. While some reports have indicated that Prime Minister Ishiba hit out at Ubisoft’s Feudal Japan-set game and its maker Ubisoft over concerns...
I'm sure his opinion comes from a nuanced understanding as well
I did see an example of the thing that they were talking about, and it was simply a matter of treating a shrine like every other location in a city, where a player could smash things if they choose to. The character points a weapon at civilians, but in current AC games, if you kill civilians, it ends your game.
The PMs criticism will give a tiny nudge to sales among a few high school students though.
Alex Haley was a case of plagiarism. This is different. This is the case of an interesting historical character being used as the protagonist for a game set in Japan, wherein a feature of the game is/was morphable landscapes.
So the Japanese are upset about two things: not being able to play the game as a Japanese person, and being able to destroy sacred shrines. Frankly, the shrine issue is a minor thing, but it allows Japanese lawmakers to criticize the game without touching the issue of Yasuke. I think most players in Asia felt a sense of betrayal that the game didn't have an Asian protagonist. I think they feel they have been marginalized in order for Ubisoft to score social justice points. There is also a side issue of whether or not Yasuke was an actual samurai, and people are trying to determine this based on (I think) about three primary sources that even mention Yasuke.
But not only in Japan, some in the west are also upset at the choice of protagonist. The thing with this series is that the fans have been wanting so long for an Assassin's Creed game set in Japan, and they were hoping you could play as a badass Japanese warlord, so there was a lot of flack for the choice of Yasuke as the main character. There was a good deal of criticism for Ubisoft and what the public saw as pandering to the woke crowd. It was also unfortunate that the game development was probably started well before the anti-woke movement gained momentum, and its now launching into an environment that is openly hostile to "woke" sentiments. (Personally I think Yasuke is an interesting character, and that you could make an interesting story out of him, but the timing and the execution was very unfortunate).
Frankly, the shrine issue is a minor thing, but it allows Japanese lawmakers to criticize the game without touching the issue of Yasuke. I think most players in Asia felt a sense of betrayal that the game didn't have an Asian protagonist. I think they feel they have been marginalized in order for Ubisoft to score social justice points.
This is a game, isn't it? A game? Since I'm not a gamer at all, I don't really understand. The Japanese and whoever is upset could simply not buy this game. Hurt Übersoft [sic] in the pocket.
There is also a side issue of whether or not Yasuke was an actual samurai, and people are trying to determine this based on (I think) about three primary sources that even mention Yasuke.
I had not idea this character's existence was controversial! I've never read about him in the history books, I've read, but omissions are not unusual in historical texts.
But not only in Japan, some in the west are also upset at the choice of protagonist. The thing with this series is that the fans have been wanting so long for an Assassin's Creed game set in Japan, and they were hoping you could play as a badass Japanese warlord, so there was a lot of flack for the choice of Yasuke as the main character.
There was a good deal of criticism for Ubisoft and what the public saw as pandering to the woke crowd. It was also unfortunate that the game development was probably started well before the anti-woke movement gained momentum, and its now launching into an environment that is openly hostile to "woke" sentiments. (Personally I think Yasuke is an interesting character, and that you could make an interesting story out of him, but the timing and the execution was very unfortunate).
As long as they are depicted as accurately as possible that's the important thing. Such as this "lady ninja" AI just generated for me. View attachment 125351