Ubisoft Shares Tanks As Racists At Kotaku, IGN & TheGamer Defend Yasuke The African Who Surrendered To His Masters Opponent
by Jack Dunn
Ubisoft’s shares took a nosedive after the release of the official Assassin’s Creed, despite furious attempts by racists at sleaze rags Kotaku, IGN and TheGamer defending the black-washing of Japanese history and culture with Ubisoft’s incredibly racist decision to not give Assassin’s Creed Shadows a Japanese male protagonist, but instead rewrite history and pass off the real life historical figure Yasuke, who was a slave, as a main protagonist and a samurai.
Ubisoft known for its exploitative practices towards gamers has seen its shares steadily grow over the past month, and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows to be released later this year was guaranteed to solidify that growth. Or not. In an astonishingly stupid and disrespectful move, Ubisoft decided it was a good idea to portray the real life black slave Yasuke as a samurai and make him one of the main protagonists. Not only did Japanese gamers show their disapproval of this black-washing of Japanese history, but the market did too. Ubisoft shares tanked and were down almost 10% one day after the release of the official Assassin’s Creed Shadows game trailer.
This is despite the usual suspects at Kotaku, IGN and TheGamer attempted, and still attempt, to justify this astonishingly stupid black-washing of Japanese history and culture by defending the sidelining of a Japanese male samurai as protagonist in favour of Yasuke. They are clearly in a panic as the racists at IGN, Kotaku and TheGamer have been running two to three articles per day defending Ubisoft’s racist decision.
Kenneth Shepard at Kotaku writes: “While some of the specifics of Yasuke’s life are disputed by historians, the commonly understood story is that he arrived in Japan as a bodyguard..” No Kotaku, Yasuke is commonly understood to have arrived in Japan as a slave. From the current Wikipedia inscription: “On 27 March 1581, Valignano, together with Luís Fróis, who had arrived in Japan earlier, had an audience with Nobunaga, and Yasuke is said to have accompanied them as an attendant.”
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Matt Purslow at IGN writes: “But Shadows has a second protagonist: an African samurai. If you’re surprised to see a man of such origins wielding a katana, you may not know his fascinating true story. This is Yasuke, Japan’s first Black samurai, and the first real historical person to be a playable protagonist in an Assassin’s Creed game.” Yasuke was indeed given short sword, but he remained a servant. As far as serving as a template for a brave warrior, Ubisoft couldn’t have chosen a worse historical character. Historical records would indicate that Yasuke eventually surrendered during his battle with his master’s opponent. From historical records we learn that: “a vassal of Akechi approached him [Yasuke] and said, 'Do not be afraid, give me that sword', so he gave him the sword.”
Jade King from TheGamer takes a different approach defending Ubisoft’s black-washing of Japanese history and culture in his article for TheGamer titled: “Assassin's Creed Doesn't Care About Historical Accuracy, And Neither Should You” What Jade King from TheGamer omits is that every Assassin’s Creed so far has featured protagonists from the race local to the game setting. But when it comes to the Japanese apparently Ubisoft doesn’t care and the Japanese gamers will just have to suck it up and play as an African in Japan massacring Japanese, how thoughtful, stunning and brave of Ubisoft.
Hopefully all three rags close down soon.