Summary
The controversy surroundingAssassin’s Creed Shadowshasn’t escaped the attention of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, especially when it comes to the in-game defacing of a Shinto shrine. The prime minister is calling for talks with several other top government officials to discuss the best way to deal with potential responses to what is seen by some as one of the more problematic segments inAssassin’s Creed Shadows.
Assassin’s Creed Shadowsreleases on March 20, but its pre-release period has been one of the most contentious in recent memory. Putting aside the complaints about the official title assigned to Yasuke, one-half ofAssassin’s Creed Shadows' dual protagonists, the game has been put under an intense amount of scrutiny for everything from perceived similarities to the anime and manga seriesOne Pieceto questions surrounding its cultural authenticity.
OnenewerAssassin’s Creed Shadowscontroversyin particular is centered around a segment of the game in which Yasuke destroys Itatehyozu Shrine. That real-life location is located in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, and is overseen in the nation’s House of Councillors by Hiroyuki Kada, who had a serious question for the prime minister regarding whether the upcoming game will encourage real-life acts of vandalism and destruction against shrines in Japan, according to a translation provided byIGN. Ishiba’s response was predicated on the condition that someone would actually carry out a similar act to what is depicted in the game, though if it were to happen, he said it would be an insult to all of Japan. “Respecting the culture and religion of a country is fundamental, and we must make it clear that we will not simply accept acts that disregard them,” he said, via the translation.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Controversy Attracts the Japanese Prime Minister’s Attention
This is far from the first instance of the game causing a stir in its pre-release state. Last May, theWikipedia page for Yasuke was alteredmore than 50 times in a single day as critics of the game opposing the concept of a real-life black samurai took issue with his description despite historical records depicting him as a member of the court of daimyo Nobunaga Oda.
The development team at Ubisoft Quebec has made it quite clear that the upcoming action RPG is a work of historical fiction and that its members have put a lot of work into presenting a new story set in an accurate representation of late-16th-century Japan. This, in part, has led todelays inAssassin’s Creed Shadows' release, as developers have cited cultural and historical accuracy as one of the reasons for moving the game off its previous planned launch dates of July 19, 2025, and Jun 03, 2025.
