Japan’s Prime Minister Ishiba and National Diet members slam Ubisoft over Assassin’s Creed Shadows cultural disrespect

The Chairman

The Chairman

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Clips from the Parliamentary discussion on Assassin’s Creed Shadows




【Summary of Japan’s Parliamentary Discussion on Assassin’s Creed Shadows】

Hiroyuki Kada reviewed early gameplay footage of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and raised concerns about:

• A shrine altar being destroyed in the game.
• A shrine from his home district appearing without permission to use its name.

Kada then pointed out the risk of the game encouraging real-world vandalism, noting that:

• Some tourists have climbed shrine torii gates and committed graffiti.
• This kind of cultural disrespect is unacceptable.

In response, Vice Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Ōgushi stated that unauthorized use of real-world locations is unacceptable.

Prime Minister Ishiba responded:

• Graffiti on shrines is absolutely unacceptable.
• Japan will not simply remain silent on such issues.
• Showing respect for local cultures should be common sense.


 
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Puscifer

Puscifer

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That's cool and all Prime Minister but can you focus on your countries culture of not birthing children first
 
UltimaKilo

UltimaKilo

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Damn, they’re really, really upset. This is bad PR, Ubisoft should just update and swap out the main character or something.
 
Lokaum D+

Lokaum D+

Member
Lol, the contrast is funny, GoT recieved only praises, love and prizes, ACS only hate and shit.

Japanese ppl has spoken GoT is the best AC japan
 
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jshackles

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
So they get called out, but are they going to take any actual action? Would honestly love to see the game get banned in Japan or something.
 
a'la mode

a'la mode

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The Chairman said:
Yeah, a Japanese youtuber.

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Some of those arguments seem exceptionally ignorant though, like he's just scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to make something stick. I mean, Sekiryu "not looking Japanese" or the banner looking like a Qing dynasty banner and "not Japanese at all", just comes off as a foolish mix of national pride and not wanting to admit any influence or resemblance to the Chinese as they're really not the best of friends. The Japanese version of a grifter?

I really shouldn't have to be the one saying this to a Japanese person, but China and Japan have had immense cultural effect on each other throughout history, in artwork as well. There is a great deal of ukiyo-e, pottery, and whatnot with dragon designs just like the Sekiryu and the dragon banner, in their shrines and temples as well. Japanese even adapted Seiryu, which - surprise surprise - is a very Chinese god (Qinglong) with a very Chinese looking dragon design, but in Japan it's a guardian spirit.
 
UltimaKilo

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
jshackles said:
Big "I don't know how much you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert)" vibes
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They may have not, but after the backlash they haven’t relented. Why? This is horrible PR and doesn’t seem controversial in Japan, where seemingly most people are upset and you’d lose nothing by backtracking.
 
Sakura

Sakura

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In Valhalla didn't they design it so you literally couldn't attack civilians or anything, even though you play as a viking? What was the thought process in Shadows to allow you to go around destroying shrines and killing regular people and stuff?
 
U

Unknown Soldier

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UltimaKilo said:
They may have not, but after the backlash they haven’t relented. Why? This is horrible PR and doesn’t seem controversial in Japan, where seemingly most people are upset and you’d lose nothing by backtracking.
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They don't care because no one in Japan buys AC games anyways

It's important to realize the distinction between AC Shadows and Ghost of Tsushima. From Day 1, Sony and Sucker Punch intended for Japanese gamers to buy and play GoT and in fact they did, it sold over a million in Japan which is very unusual for a Western studio developed game

Ubisoft has never had any success selling AC titles in Japan, it was always seen as a Western franchise. From Day 1, Ubisoft never had any misconceptions that anyone in Japan would buy an AC game set in Japan, so the game was exclusively made for the Western audience
 
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digimaster7

digimaster7

Neo Member
UltimaKilo said:
They may have not, but after the backlash they haven’t relented. Why? This is horrible PR and doesn’t seem controversial in Japan, where seemingly most people are upset and you’d lose nothing by backtracking.
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I don’t think its possible to backtrack the main character himself when you are at this stage of development

if yasuke is just a side character like in nioh then sure its possible to just remove the boss battle
 
U

Unknown Soldier

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UltimaKilo said:
Bad PR is bad PR. Is it not the case that Ubisoft is losing money? This is just stupid.
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If the game sells well in the West, then they accomplished their goal. They do not care what Japan thinks about their game set in Japan, because they never had any illusions that Japanese gamers would buy it anyways

Check my edited post for a longer explanation
 
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