‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Creative Director Says Ubisoft Devs Are “Trying To Listen To Japanese Fans”, Assures They’re Open To “Good And Warranted Criticism”
In the face of the massive backlash leveled towards Ubisoft’s upcoming release by Japanese fans, Assassin’s Creed Shadows Creative Director Jonathan Dumont says that, after their initial stumbles, the game’s dev team is actively “trying to listen” to their feedback and criticisms.
Dumont offered this latest assurance regarding the Feudal Japan-set game’s historical and cultural authenticity while speaking with Japanese video game news-centric content creator Genki Gamer during a recent Assassin’s Creed Shadows Showcase Event, as held in Kyoto, Japan on March 2nd.
Per a recap of their discussion provided by Genki Gamer, their time together began with an inquiry from the content creator regarding why they felt “now was the right to finally release an Assassin’s Creed game based in Japan.”
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“He said it was a team decision that the team really wanted to do Assassin’s Creed based in Japan and they really felt that now was the right time to do it and they felt like the movement in the natural world where they can have the right technical abilities, as well as a good story to put together the right ingredients to make this game now,” said Genki Gamer. “He also said some of the inspirations of the game were movies like 13 Assassins, Akira Kurosawa films, Sekigahara, and Zatoichi, but they’re putting their own Assassin’s Creed spin on these things.”
Following a subsequent dive into the game’s new gameplay mechanics, such as the ability to go completely prone, the addition of a new grappling hook for both traversal and combat, and the introduction of a new ‘Spy Network’ mechanic that allows players to establish their own underground information channels, the content creator eventually pressed Dumont as to his thoughts regarding “the controversy around this game in Japan”.
In turn, the creative director told his interviewer that “the team are focused on the game, they are trying to listen to the Japanese fans, and if there is good and warranted criticism they will try to take it in, but on the whole they’re mainly focused on delivering an outstanding game”.
Further, Dumont reportedly capped off his answer by noting that, in the view of the entire Assassin’s Creed Shadows team, “it was an honor to be visiting Japan at this time”.
From pushing the highly-contested claim that the historical Yasuke was indeed a true samurai, to using a historical reenactment group’s personal logo without permission, to getting various details pertaining to its setting completely wrong, Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed Shadows have stepped on almost every cultural landmine one could think of in the lead-up to the game’s release.
In the most recent PR explosion, the confirmation that players could destroy an in-game replica of a real world Shinto shrine drew condemnation from both the religious site’s current caretakers and local Hyogo Prefectural Assembly Member Takeshi Nagase, who has vowed to raise the issue to the country’s National Diet.
Barring any unforeseen developments, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is on track to emerge from the moonlight on March 20th.
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