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The drama continues: Ubisoft removed the Samurai description of Yasuke on Steam page, but only for Japan store

Kenneth Haight

Gold Member
Anthony Adams Slow Clap GIF
 
Lol.. if Michael "rare incel victory" Pacther say it was not political.. then it must be true.

You really are choosing to die in this hill bro..

Its not honestly easier to just say "well its political and for diversity and I dont give a single fuck and will play the game" than to fight this lost battle for Ubisoft ?

You not going to convince anyone that the dev loooooves this forgotten character of Yasuke who barely is mentioned or really known about... but not the hundreds of great storys and several books based on real known Samurai.
This is exactly why I am looking forward to this game, I really want to see how the story plays out.

I don’t think Yasuke’s addition was political and you do. That’s ok, we can agree to disagree.

Ghost of Yotei also releases this year so you can check that game out if this isn’t your thing… Wait forgot that character is diverse too .. so I guess you can play ghost of tsushima again instead and I heard Rise of the Ronin is pretty good also.
 
I'm just not seeing all the drama these recent threads suggest exists. I feel like a fart from a Ubisoft developer will lead to a thread about how they are desperate.

There's so many other threads about this game, this could be in one of them.

Gotta have our hourly Ubisoft thread, any excuse is enough.


It's no secret the company is doing badly. I still don't see why every little thing they post or do has to be a new thread just to shit on them. Plenty of open threads where people do just that. Maybe there should be an OT or something.
You know NeoGaf loves there drama and crapping on Ubisoft among others with multiple threads whenever possible.

I’m certain I’ll have fun playing as both characters. 🤷‍♂️
 

BlackTron

Member
It was on purpose, the writer on the team really liked Yasuke's story.

Here is a link to Michael Pachter confirming this:



He also confirmed Ubisoft did not add Yasuke and the female ninja because of some "political agenda" but of course people won't believe that.


Michael Pachter? Really?

He prefaces his entire thing with "I think," so everything following that is his opinion. He then "confirms" the "real" reason...straight from Ubisofts press release.

You are better off just quoting no source at all than Pachter. It's like an instant -50 credibility debuff. Offer your opinion on its own and save embarrassment.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
You know NeoGaf loves there drama and crapping on Ubisoft among others with multiple threads whenever possible.

I’m certain I’ll have fun playing as both characters. 🤷‍♂️
It might be 3 characters if the top character is playable (got the biggest pic). And the two characters at the bottom have equal weighting to the black guy and female leads. So it might be up to 5!
 
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YeulEmeralda

Linux User
It was on purpose... some dev was reading about famous samurais and obviously was confronted with the several awsome storys about Yasuke the black who ruled the samurai world in the Nobunaga era... it was always a story meant to be told.
If this game sells bad I am not sure the shareholders will agree.
 

Saber

Member
Wow so nice to see that fat child as a part of AssCreed. Everytime I saw AssCreed the first thing I notice is wheres the goddang fat child at the box art?
Oh yeah right, I almost forgot this is about the black person nobody who they think it was a samurai just because.
 
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Woopah

Member
Why does an AC game set in 16th century Japan have to have non Japanese people? Why can’t Ubi just make a game based on what fans have been requesting and use DLCs to do things differently like they did already with other AC games.

And then do full on AC game in sub-Saharan Africa. There are a ton of interesting places and time periods that you could set a game in. From Ethiopian Empire to fall of Mali to Zulu war with British and more.

Also, personally I thought Nioh (or Last Samurai) was dumb as well.
It doesn't have to feature Yasuke, just like any of the other video games, manga, movies etc.that feature him don't have to.

It also doesn't have to feature any of the other non-Japanese characters either. But it doesn't mean it shouldn't.

The Shogun series of books and TV features several non-Japanase people as well, but I never thought "why does this have to have non-Japanese people" or "if the author wanted to make a book with white people then there are plenty of other time periods and places he could set a story in.

If you also thought Shogun, Nioh and The Last Samurai were dumb, then that's consistent and I have no issue with it. That's completely fine!
Would you say that everyone's a racist and a chud ?


Mate, the insinuations are getting tiring at this point, just stop beating around the bush and just say what you're thinking : that everyone's a RaCiSt...for stating the fucking obvious - 'cause, let's not kid ourselves, we all know why Ubisoft did this.
You're playing coy and it's preeettty obvious at this point with the constant back and forth and the "questions" that you're posing.
I don't think they are racist but I think the outcry is bigger because of his skin colour.

Like, if the game removed the option to play as a black man and forced you to play as a Japanese shinobi, then I don't think people would complain as much.
 
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Bernardougf

Member
This is exactly why I am looking forward to this game, I really want to see how the story plays out.

I don’t think Yasuke’s addition was political and you do. That’s ok, we can agree to disagree.

Ghost of Yotei also releases this year so you can check that game out if this isn’t your thing… Wait forgot that character is diverse too .. so I guess you can play ghost of tsushima again instead and I heard Rise of the Ronin is pretty good also.

Oh assassins creed definitely is not my thing.. it hasn't been for years.

And yes it is political/social driven you can pretend is not.. is ok.. we will pretend we believe in you.

Btw is nice that you acknowledge that GoY character is "diverse too" just because she is a woman ... shows me that you have the exactly mind of ubisoft devs ..

No wonder you are here in full defense/denial force.. keep the good fight brother.. they really need you.
 
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Shaki12345

Member
Nobody was worried about that while planning this game.

Surely had they known they would be releasing the game in the midst of a political swing and financial crisis...

He would not be sent to HR.
The fact that nobody worried that making a black character a protagonist in a Japanese samurai game is exactly the problem.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
The fact that nobody worried that making a black character a protagonist in a Japanese samurai game is exactly the problem.
A historical figure that was basically Nobunaga's toy poodle to show off and meat shield if anything ever popped off in meetings. But since they want to revision history with the revisionist Wikipedia exerts that were added last year 🤣

What could go wrong?
 

BlackTron

Member
Personally I think if they did a AC game in (non-egypt) Africa. After so many other AC games. Why should Africa get shafted and get something like a white protag? An "interesting story to tell"? Part of the gimmick of these AC games is just steeping yourself in the whole vibe and culture of the location, which includes the characters. Part of the novelty of a AC in Africa would be just existing in that environment as some jacked AF bald black dude.

Why should Japan get shafted over the same thing? The precious "interesting story" isn't more valuable than its core tenets as a video game. Add DLC once its main job is out of the way. Maybe they should make Prince of Persia with with a...you know what, just gonna stop.
 

Valonquar

Member
At this point Ubi needs to just pivot. Keep the same cut & paste slop, but cell shade everything, and make the main character a big titty anime girl. Replace the opening disclaimer with "We fired the multicultural team of various beliefs, sexual orientations and gender identities. This game was made by 46 gooners we keep locked in the office."
 

MMaRsu

Member
At this point Ubi needs to just pivot. Keep the same cut & paste slop, but cell shade everything, and make the main character a big titty anime girl. Replace the opening disclaimer with "We fired the multicultural team of various beliefs, sexual orientations and gender identities. This game was made by 46 gooners we keep locked in the office."
Friends Lol GIF by Max
 

Mortisfacio

Member
New key-art for the game, feels like they're definitely downplaying Yasuke's character, 90% of his face is hidden behind the elaborate mask which hides practically all of his features, and there's a lot of other characters on it now that weren't seen before.


GhbaCXXawAAcTWc

Why is Russell from Up in this game?
 
I don't think they are racist but I think the outcry is bigger because of his skin colour.

Like, if the game removed the option to play as a black man and forced you to play as a Japanese shinobi, then I don't think people would complain as much.

But, you're stating the obvious - and it's not because of the reason you most probably think it is, people aren't hating on Yasuke because he's black, people are shitting on Ubisoft because they know exactly why they went down that route and they're just tired of all the preaching and pandering, that's it, that's the big "mystery".

Let me put it this way : in AC Odyssey, 60-70% of the mercenaries you'd be fighting were either A) women, B) actual black guys and C) characters so dark skinned (and we're not talking about Persians either) that could pass as Africans.
People noticed it and commented on it, the (usual) response from the internet? "it's JusT a GaMe Bro !" , "GrEeks wErE Olive skiNnEd in AnCient tiMes !" (lol, it was actually the opposite) alongside the usual you're all racist® insinuations, but I digress, it wasn't that people were racists, it was exactly because people were tired of the usual, Western historical revisionism AND the usual BS inclusive and PC pandering.
Same thing with GOW Ragnarok: why did Angrboda had to be black ? Same with the rebel magic Elf-bro - did this fact actually made the game more diverse in your opinion? Did it make it anyway better ?

Also : are you familiar with Afro Samurai ? No one had a problem with that, it was fun, it was fantastical, it was fiction - a stark contrast to Ubisoft's shite where you had a massive niKKa slaying them Japanese peasants with hip hop beats playing in the background for fuck's sake with - wait for it - Ubisoft pulling out the usual and now tired "we consulted with historians" card trying to gaslight users when called out.

Yes there are racists in the world, yes the internet is filled with trolls, thing is, there's also normal people that are just tired of having bullshit politics shoved down their throats because...reasons

It's all bullshit AND politics man through and through, if you don't see it I don't know what to tell you.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
But, you're stating the obvious - and it's not because of the reason you most probably think it is, people aren't hating on Yasuke because he's black, people are shitting on Ubisoft because they know exactly why they went down that route and they're just tired of all the preaching and pandering, that's it, that's the big "mystery".

Let me put it this way : in AC Odyssey, 60-70% of the mercenaries you'd be fighting were either A) women, B) actual black guys and C) characters so dark skinned (and we're not talking about Persians either) that could pass as Africans.
People noticed it and commented on it, the (usual) response from the internet? "it's JusT a GaMe Bro !" , "GrEeks wErE Olive skiNnEd in AnCient tiMes !" (lol, it was actually the opposite) alongside the usual you're all racist® insinuations, but I digress, it wasn't that people were racists, it was exactly because people were tired of the usual, Western historical revisionism AND the usual BS inclusive and PC pandering.
Same thing with GOW Ragnarok: why did Angrboda had to be black ? Same with the rebel magic Elf-bro - did this fact actually made the game more diverse in your opinion? Did it make it anyway better ?

Also : are you familiar with Afro Samurai ? No one had a problem with that, it was fun, it was fantastical, it was fiction - a stark contrast to Ubisoft's shite where you had a massive niKKa slaying them Japanese peasants with hip hop beats playing in the background for fuck's sake with - wait for it - Ubisoft pulling out the usual and now tired "we consulted with historians" card trying to gaslight users when called out.

Yes there are racists in the world, yes the internet is filled with trolls, thing is, there's also normal people that are just tired of having bullshit politics shoved down their throats because...reasons

It's all bullshit AND politics man through and through, if you don't see it I don't know what to tell you.
Exactly.

When a company tries to pander, push politics or rewrite history to form their weird alternate universe, people can see that a mile away. BFV mom and daughter Rambo team is a laugher. Now someone will say..... "But who cares? It's a made up video game. It can be about anything"

Technically, that's true. But logically can lead to stupidity if done wrong. I dont remember anyone ragging on the Black guy dude bros in Starhawk and Crackdown. What's there to analyze? It's pure action shooting mayhem with no politics in sci fi worlds.

I dont know how often people notice it, but I do. And this leads to more corporate stupidity. For all the DEI and alternate history plots they do, isnt it weird that all these western studios are like 95% white people, mostly guys, and where's all the minority groups in games aside from Black people? The US has shit loads of Latinos. There's barely any in western games. And most of them who are in games are probably relegated to drug thuggy guys named Jose in GTA. Where's all the Asians? Where's all the Native and East Indians? Where's all the Middle Eastern characters (unless it's a terrorist in a miltary shooter)?

So you can see even when game studios promote a holistic kind of thing like PRing DEI, it's sure skewed heavy to certain narratives.
 
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laynelane

Member
Exactly.

When a company tries to pander, push politics or rewrite history to form their weird alternate universe, people can see that a mile away. BFV mom and daughter Rambo team is a laugher. Now someone will say..... "But who cares? It's a made up video game. It can be about anything"

Technically, that's true. But logically can lead to stupidity if done wrong. I dont remember anyone ragging on the Black guy dude bros in Starhawk and Crackdown. What's there to analyze? It's pure action shooting mayhem with no politics in sci fi worlds.

I dont know how often people notice it, but I do. And this leads to more corporate stupidity. For all the DEI and alternate history plots they do, isnt it weird that all these western studios are like 95% white people, mostly guys, and where's all the minority groups in games aside from Black people? The US has shit loads of Latinos. There's barely any in western games. And most of them who are in games are probably relegated to drug thuggy guys named Jose in GTA. Where's all the Asians? Where's all the Native and East Indians? Where's all the Middle Eastern characters (unless it's a terrorist in a miltary shooter)?

So you can see even when game studios promote a holistic kind of thing like PRing DEI, it's sure skewed heavy to certain narratives.

Great point about how only certain types of "diversity" are pushed. It's been very apparent for a long time too and, imo, shows just how hollow the supposed ideals of certain developers/activists are. Hell, the invention of the term "white adjacent" just about says it all.

Rewriting history is also, slowly but surely, becoming more of a negative. I'm glad to see that. The history of our species is full of all the elements that make for fascinating stores - victories, losses, betrayals, wars, love stories, friendships, heroism, cowardice, etc. The absolute arrogance of any person who decides to impose their ideological preferences on that is something I don't want to see at all.
 
It doesn't have to feature Yasuke, just like any of the other video games, manga, movies etc.that feature him don't have to.

It also doesn't have to feature any of the other non-Japanese characters either. But it doesn't mean it shouldn't.

The Shogun series of books and TV features several non-Japanase people as well, but I never thought "why does this have to have non-Japanese people" or "if the author wanted to make a book with white people then there are plenty of other time periods and places he could set a story in.

If you also thought Shogun, Nioh and The Last Samurai were dumb, then that's consistent and I have no issue with it. That's completely fine!

I don't think they are racist but I think the outcry is bigger because of his skin colour.

Like, if the game removed the option to play as a black man and forced you to play as a Japanese shinobi, then I don't think people would complain as much.
Yup, because a lot of people are sheltered and they don't think black people/minorities should be in non stereotypical roles especially as main characters.

Yasuke was a real person but they want to make it seem like Ubisoft made his character up to add to the game to fit a "agenda" when they clearly just wanted to focus on telling a different story from the norm.

I totally get that some people just wanted a basic samurai AC game but Ubisoft clearly didn't want to go that route, will this decision work out? Who knows....

But at the end of the day, we will see what happens on March 20 when people vote on what they want with their money, the fact that people want this game to fail is very weird. Who wants another crap AAA video game ... but to each his own.
 

Shaki12345

Member
Lol Yasuke is clearly being pushed out. They're doing everything they can to salvage this project. I think it will be delayed again.
This game has been in development for more than 4 years. There is 0 chance that they will now delete him from the game. For that you need a much longer delay.

It's what they should've done after they saw the extremely negative feedback when they revealed this game. They totally ignored it.

My God, Ubisoft management is dumb as fuck and this company needs to get the SmackDown. Maybe then they'll learn. Clearly they only care about what they want themselves and it will destroy them. Eventually the gamer will win. Voting with your wallet did make them change Star Wars Outlaws.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Yup, because a lot of people are sheltered and they don't think black people/minorities should be in non stereotypical roles especially as main characters.

Yasuke was a real person but they want to make it seem like Ubisoft made his character up to add to the game to fit a "agenda" when they clearly just wanted to focus on telling a different story from the norm.

I totally get that some people just wanted a basic samurai AC game but Ubisoft clearly didn't want to go that route, will this decision work out? Who knows....

But at the end of the day, we will see what happens on March 20 when people vote on what they want with their money, the fact that people want this game to fail is very weird. Who wants another crap AAA video game ... but to each his own.
I get what youre saying. But when you go against norms it can create issues,

For example, lets say someone wanted to make a game based on people and cities in Brazil, and the lead character was a blonde haired, blue eyed Swedish guy named Sven? Sounds pretty dumb, even though Im sure in Brazil's 200M people there's got to be some Scandinavian people living there somewhere.

The normal and path of least resistance is make a game with tons of Brazil people in it and the lead character is Brazilian too. Makes sense to me.
 
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StereoVsn

Gold Member
It doesn't have to feature Yasuke, just like any of the other video games, manga, movies etc.that feature him don't have to.

It also doesn't have to feature any of the other non-Japanese characters either. But it doesn't mean it shouldn't.

The Shogun series of books and TV features several non-Japanase people as well, but I never thought "why does this have to have non-Japanese people" or "if the author wanted to make a book with white people then there are plenty of other time periods and places he could set a story in.

If you also thought Shogun, Nioh and The Last Samurai were dumb, then that's consistent and I have no issue with it. That's completely fine!

I don't think they are racist but I think the outcry is bigger because of his skin colour.

Like, if the game removed the option to play as a black man and forced you to play as a Japanese shinobi, then I don't think people would complain as much.
The latest Shogun show was amazing. The others were mediocre.

But it’s all immaterial, you are creating a strawman. AC fans kept asking for a full on AC Japan with the “assumption” that main characters will be Japanese. See Ghost of Tsushima and its justifiably high reception even in Japan.

Ubisoft knew that there would be pushback from fans because this isn’t what was being asked. All your other “gotchas” are pointless.
 

Woopah

Member
But, you're stating the obvious - and it's not because of the reason you most probably think it is, people aren't hating on Yasuke because he's black, people are shitting on Ubisoft because they know exactly why they went down that route and they're just tired of all the preaching and pandering, that's it, that's the big "mystery".

Let me put it this way : in AC Odyssey, 60-70% of the mercenaries you'd be fighting were either A) women, B) actual black guys and C) characters so dark skinned (and we're not talking about Persians either) that could pass as Africans.
People noticed it and commented on it, the (usual) response from the internet? "it's JusT a GaMe Bro !" , "GrEeks wErE Olive skiNnEd in AnCient tiMes !" (lol, it was actually the opposite) alongside the usual you're all racist® insinuations, but I digress, it wasn't that people were racists, it was exactly because people were tired of the usual, Western historical revisionism AND the usual BS inclusive and PC pandering.
Same thing with GOW Ragnarok: why did Angrboda had to be black ? Same with the rebel magic Elf-bro - did this fact actually made the game more diverse in your opinion? Did it make it anyway better ?

Also : are you familiar with Afro Samurai ? No one had a problem with that, it was fun, it was fantastical, it was fiction - a stark contrast to Ubisoft's shite where you had a massive niKKa slaying them Japanese peasants with hip hop beats playing in the background for fuck's sake with - wait for it - Ubisoft pulling out the usual and now tired "we consulted with historians" card trying to gaslight users when called out.

Yes there are racists in the world, yes the internet is filled with trolls, thing is, there's also normal people that are just tired of having bullshit politics shoved down their throats because...reasons

It's all bullshit AND politics man through and through, if you don't see it I don't know what to tell you.
If people have suggestions on how to make the character better, that's great! Want to improve the music? Great. Is there some pandering dialogue that could be written better? Completely fine.

But I don't agree that he's not allowed to be in the game at all. Or this notion that a video game character can only be black if they have to be black.

Ragnarok is a great example. Angrboda didn't have to be white and didn't have to black.

If the character had white skin or brown skin or any other colour, would it have made the game better? No. Then why does it matter?

Hopefully I'm explaining myself clearly.
 
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Woopah

Member
The latest Shogun show was amazing. The others were mediocre.

But it’s all immaterial, you are creating a strawman. AC fans kept asking for a full on AC Japan with the “assumption” that main characters will be Japanese. See Ghost of Tsushima and its justifiably high reception even in Japan.

Ubisoft knew that there would be pushback from fans because this isn’t what was being asked. All your other “gotchas” are pointless.

If you want to play as a Japanese character, you can play as the Japanese character.

I really loved Ghost of Tsushima and am very much looking forward to Ghost of Yotei. If either of these games gave us the option to play as a non-Japanese character, I don't see that making the game worse.
 
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