The main Assassin’s Creed reddit, subscribed to by more than 717,000 users, has taken a firm stance on the continuing backlash to Black samurai Yasuke protagonist in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
A post from the popular reddit’s moderation team has drawn a line under the ongoing “‘debate'” over whether the real-life figure of Yasuke was a samurai or not, and to what extent his depiction in Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be historically accurate.
It’s a matter Ubisoft appeared to wade into last week via a vaguely-worded statement that raised eyebrows after it apologised for “some elements” in the game’s promotional materials it said had “caused concern” among some Japanese fans. Now, in a lengthy statement, the moderation team says Ubisoft’s statement had “exacerbated” the matter further.
“With the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, there has been an influx of certain individuals spilling into various communities online such as this subreddit and raising arguments about ‘historical accuracy’,” the Assassin’s Creed reddit moderation team wrote.
“As we are all exhausted of this tedious discussion that has been endlessly talked to death, not to mention exacerbated by a recent official statement from Ubisoft, we would like to give a final reminder to those participating in these debates as to what exactly this franchise entails, and why there was never any point to these discussions to begin with outside of thinly veiling bad faith intent.