Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot has spoken out to condemn “the malicious and personal online attacks” directed at its developers, in the wake of the online fallout from Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ reveal.
Shadows is Ubisoft’s upcoming feudal Japan-set entry in its long-running historical stabathon series. Earlier this month, Ubisoft revealed its dual protagonists to be Black samurai Yasuke, a notable figure from the period, and a fictional shinobi named Naoe, who happens to be a woman. The internet reacted as normally as you’d expect – and X owner Elon Musk also got involved.
Without naming Shadows specifically, Guillemot said he was concerned by the recent spate of “personal online attacks” directed at Ubisoft staff, and called on the video games industry in general to speak out against them.
“One thing I am concerned about right now is the malicious and personal online attacks that have been directed at some of our team members and partners,” Guillemot said as part of a new interview published on Ubisoft’s website.
“I want to make it clear that we, at Ubisoft, condemn these hateful acts in the strongest possible terms, and I encourage the rest of the industry and players to denounce them, too.”
Reaction to Shadows’ announcement has played out against a wider backdrop of online backlash to a perceived push towards featuring greater diversity in video games industry-wide.
“DEI kills art,” Elon Musk posted on X earlier this month in response to Shadows’ reaction, referring to the acronym for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
That post was, naturally, seen by Assassin’s Creed franchise boss Marc-Alexis Côté, who subsequently said in an interview he had to hold back from sending a response.
“For me, Elon, it’s sad, he’s just feeding hatred,” Coté told Game File. “I had a lot of three word replies that came to mind.
“What Elon says is not the game that we’re building,” Côté continued. “People will have to play the game for themselves. And if, within the first 11 minutes and 47 seconds, they are not convinced of what we’re doing, we can have the discussion.”
Last night, Guillemot also revealed that several Assassin’s Creed remakes were currently in development. Prior reports have pegged fan-favourite pirate adventure Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag as one of the games set to resurface in future.