Ubisoft Rejects Request To Remove Stolen Japanese Re-Enactment Group Banner From ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Art Book, Claims Files Have Already Been Deleted
Ubisoft has reportedly denied a request from a Japanese historical re-enactment group whose banner graphic they used without permission in production of Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ concept art to remove said graphic from the game’s Collector’s Edition art book.
As previously reported, The Sekigahara Teppo-tai (Eng. Sekigahara Rifle Corps) is a Japanese re-enactment group dedicated primarily to teaching the public about the use of matchlock rifles during the Battle of Sekigahara, a historically significant conflict whose outcome marked the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate’s centuries-long rule over Japan.
Much to the group’s surprise, upon the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ first batch of promotional materials, they discovered that Ubisoft had wholesale swiped their custom banner, as flown during their re-enactments, and depicted it in-game as being flown by a random infantry unit.
Following outcry from both players and the SRC themselves, Ubisoft would eventually offer a direct apology to the group for their blatant theft.
In turn, the group not only accepted Ubisoft’s apology, but also agreed to allow the unaltered concept art featuring their banner to be included in Shadows‘ Collector’s Edition art book.
“We have been notified that the flag of the Sekigahara Teppo-tai (Sekigahara Old Battlefield Hospitality Coalition) has been used without permission in two pieces of Assassin’s Creed Shadows concept art that have already been released,” tweeted the official Ubisoft Japan Twitter account on July 8th, as machine translated by DeepL. “We have given the [dev team] an opportunity to apologize and have accepted the situation. With the exception of the artwork being included in the art book in the Collector’s Edition, there will be no further use or distribution of the artwork. We sincerely apologize for this matter.”
However, just three days later, a member of the SRC would reveal that “We had another discussion within the Sekigahara Rifle Corps and we have asked Ubisoft to remove the pictures used in the art book of the collector’s edition. I don’t know if this is possible, but I have contacted them through support.”
Unfortunately for the group, per the member’s own tweet history, rather than receiving any assistance from Ubisoft, they would instead be met with roughly two-and-a-half weeks of complete radio silence.
On July 28th, Ubisoft finally got back to the above SRC member’s messages.
But instead of offering help, the member claims he was instead met with a range of excuses from Ubisoft as to why his request for the banner’s removal could not be accommodated.
“I received a call from UBI Software support today,” he wrote. “The content is as follows: ‘I have printed it out, so I can’t delete it now.’ ‘It is difficult to distinguish the text from the image.’ ‘We have deleted the image from the system managed by UBI Software.’ ‘I am sorry that I could not meet your request.’ ‘I apologize for not being able to fulfill your request.'”
Their attempts to work with Ubisoft directly having gone nowhere, the group has since taken to reaching out to Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ Japanese distributor, Square Enix, for help.
“Since it seemed like we would not be able to make progress with UBI Software alone, we contacted Square Enix, the company that will be distributing the game in Japan, for support,” tweeted @matchlock_kage on July 30th.
As of writing, it appears Square Enix has yet to respond to the SRC’s plea for help.
Meanwhile, @mathlock_kage has confirmed that a lawsuit over the matter is likely out of the question, as neither he nor the group have the time or money to weather a lengthy legal battle.
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