Grummz, the producer of Diablo 2 and StarCraft and the lead developer responsible for the success of World of Warcraft, contacted a former Ubisoft employee who confirmed that the French giant was originally developing a completely different story.
Ubisoft allegedly abandoned the original story and offered players Yasuke as the main character. The change is made to bring more diversity and inclusivity to the game. At least that's what Grummz says.
“So @Ubisoft has apparently changed Assassin's Creed Shadows by abandoning the original plot and making the main character Yasuke, Nobunaga's mysterious black servant. A Ubisoft writer who worked on the game says the original story was completely different.
This matches what Ubisoft people are telling me: Ubisoft is completely obsessed with DEI [Diversity, equity, and inclusion/Diversity, equality and inclusion – ed.] And this is the most oppressive studio you can work in, because DEI is everywhere.
Yasuke himself is a footnote in Nobunaga's history. Nobunaga was fascinated by the color of his skin and was kept as a servant until Nobunaga was betrayed and killed. Yasuke fought in this battle, but surrendered and was imprisoned. Little is known about it, but Ubisoft decided to do it anyway.”
Some players note that when creating a game that takes place in Japanese realities, not only is the black protagonist chosen, but also that the described story of Yasuke is shrouded in some mystery. A man of African descent did appear in Japan during the early stages of Japan's Azuchi-Momoyama period, but little is known about his life.
Ubisoft took advantage of the situation, and some Japanese reacted strongly to this decision , because until now Assassin's Creed has been at least minimally faithful to the history of individuals. In other games in the series, the people of that time and place corresponded to history and various cultures.
Some comments from the Japanese:
- “A game where a black man slaughters the Japanese during the Sengoku period is a great example of UBI.”
- “For the first time I understood what cultural appropriation was.”
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Cover author: Ubisoft. Cover source: IGN