“Too politicized for an overly unstable country”: Ubisoft canceled Assassin’s Creed with a Black protagonist — media

This was reported by Game File, citing anonymous interviews with five current and former Ubisoft employees.

In July of last year, Ubisoft cancelled development of a new Assassin’s Creed title that was intended to be set during the U.S. Civil War and the subsequent Reconstruction era of the 1860s–1870s.

According to sources, the game would have put players in the role of a Black man — a former slave from the American South who moved west to start a new life. After being recruited by the Assassins, he would return to the South to pursue justice, including confronting the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. The narrative was billed as one of the franchise’s most timely and socially engaged stories, spanning distinct historical periods.

People on the project at Ubisoft said they were excited by the concept but disappointed by its cancellation. They believe the decision was driven by the company’s fear of potential public backlash. Three sources told Game File that in July 2023 Ubisoft’s leadership in Paris halted the project for two main reasons: first, the online criticism triggered by the announcement that the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows would feature Yasuke — a Black samurai — as its protagonist; and second, concerns that the political climate in the United States had become too fraught.

Source: iXBT.games