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[San Dan Glokta]

Ubisoft Admits 'Assassin's Creed Shadows' Use Of Dual Protagonists Was "Divisive" And "Split Our Fanbase"

The splitting of 'Assassin's Creed Shadows' between Yasuke and Naoe taught Ubisoft Québec a few lessons on how to handle future protagonists.

boundingintocomics.com

In reflecting on the ups and downs of the controversial Ubisoft release, Assassin's Creed Shadows associate game director Simon Lemay-Comtois has come to realize that the dev team severely underestimated the "divisive" potential of their decision to split the game's narrative between two protagonists.

Offering this look back on Naoe and Yasuke's wild ride during a recent conversation with GamesRadar's Jasmine Gould-Wilson, Lemay-Comtois began with a brief overview of how Ubisoft Québec's Shadows dev goals differed from those of past entries:
"The differences between Evie and Jacob [in Assassin's Creed Syndicate] were mostly cosmetic. It's more like a 'which one do you prefer?' kind of deal. They play very, very similarly, except with very few select skills. And with Odyssey, it's much more of a deep RPG progression [system]. So for Shadows, we wanted to take some of these elements from those two games and tweak it."

And though the pair's playstyles were developed towards different ends, Lemay-Comtois confirmed that elements from both were likely to be applied to each of the franchise's future protagonists:
"They have very different physicalities in how they move. I think any future assassin that we embody, if they are male, if they're slightly bigger, all these things can and should affect a little bit of how their physicality translates in the world."
"[Naoe] flips all the time. She does all these things. It's very specific to her. I would say the flips are something that is very unique to Naoe, but her agility, you can expect future assassins to still be very agile going forward."

Offering a look at the franchise's horizon, Lemay-Comtois ultimately admitted that when it came to the concept of dual protagonists, Shadows had left them with some very stark lessons regarding its execution:
"Dual protagonists can be divisive along very strange lines, right? It's not just a 'well, I prefer a war, therefore I prefer Yasuke.' Some people just don't like one character over the other, and they don't like to spend time with one. It was true with Evie and Jacob, but with Naoe and Yasuke it's more divisive. And we knew this. We knew going into it, but I think it can split our fan base a little too."
"I think the learning for us is that, yes, we could do more dual-protagonist games in the future – if we have a good reason to do it narratively and for the setting."

Of particular note is the director's closing reveal that Ubisoft Québec will now be, at least in part, deferring their Assassin's Creed creative decisions to the series' setting and story, as the most common criticism against the game from both casual fans and diehards was its jarring decision to center a good portion of its story on a fictional version of the historical Yasuke.
In other words, that's about as close as Ubisoft will ever come to publicly admitting 'Yeah, maybe we didn't handle that situation in the best of ways'.

 

[StereoVsn]

 

[Danjin44]

I didn't care for any of that, my biggest problem with game and with Ghost games is the gameplay loop is super boring in my opinion.

 

[ByWatterson]

So close and yet so far

 

[Plague Doctor]

I mean this wasn't even the first time they did it. They could have learned that from Syndicate. And it was a little more than cosmetic despite what they say. Different missions, cut scenes, and play styles. They marketed the two as being different in the lead up and release of the game. So are they saying they bullshitted the consumer back then?

Basically, this sounds like nonsensical cope.

 

[San Dan Glokta]

Imo had they gone all in with the fantastical element of Yasuke being a Samurai, and called the game something less conspicuous like "Yasuke: An assassin's creed Saga" I think it would've soured a lot less people.

Also less plagiarism too.

 

[Kacho]

They're at the bargaining stage I see. Almost there, Ubi.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I didn't care for any of that, my biggest problem with game and with Ghost games is the gameplay loop is super boring in my opinion.

Well, then you care about "that". This Boring epidemic in AAA games is seen as the solution to attract a bigger demographic, juts like "any of that".

 

[icecold1983]

Wow, who woulda thunk it. Picking a woman and a black dude to be your samurai in ancient Japan wasn't a winning decision. Real headscratcher this one was!

It doesn't help that the facial design of both characters is absolutely terrible.

 

[crazyriddler]

Is this a subtle way of admitting that a black samurai wasn't well received? Obviously, they can't say something like that directly, and I don't buy the excuse that they have very different styles and that creates division.

No one would criticize a game for that, even if you like one more than the other. I mean, they're pointing out the problem with an excuse to come up with a solution, so maybe there's hope that next time they'll include two characters that "don't create division."

 

[semiconscious]

Of particular note is the director's closing reveal that Ubisoft Québec will now be, at least in part, deferring their Assassin's Creed creative decisions to the series' setting and story, as the most common criticism against the game from both casual fans and diehards was its jarring decision to center a good portion of its story on a fictional version of the historical Yasuke.
In other words, that's about as close as Ubisoft will ever come to publicly admitting 'Yeah, maybe we didn't handle that situation in the best of ways'...

tl/dr: 'yeah, we screwed the pooch'...

 

[Danjin44]

Well, then you care about "that". This Boring epidemic in AAA games is seen as the solution to attract a bigger demographic, juts like "any of that".

I don't care if the character is black or whatever race they want to make I don't play games for history accuracy.

Even if the main character was Japanese, if story is still boring it wouldn't make much difference which basically how I describe Ghost games.

 

[Pimpbaa]

I preferred playing Evie in Syndicate. She was so damn sexy the way she walked and stealth killed. Lame she got way less story missions. I imagine the same would be true for Shadows, I will probably want to just play Naoe.

 

[ProtoByte]

Wow, who woulda thunk it. Picking a woman and a black dude to be your samurai in ancient Japan wasn't a winning decision. Real headscratcher this one was!

I don't think this is the flex you're making it.
Don't get me wrong, I get the "nuance" here about historical accuracy but I cannot square the arguments in the context of Assassin's Creed without thinking that people are just tired of "diversity" and worked backwards from that to make the argument.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I don't care if the character is black or whatever race they want to make I don't play games for history accuracy.

Even if the main character was Japanese, if story is still boring it wouldn't make much difference which basically how I describe Ghost games.

The "boring loops" the "boring story" is the same reason for "black or whatever etc".

 

[Kacho]

I don't think this is the flex you're making it.
Don't get me wrong, I get the "nuance" here about historical accuracy but I cannot square the arguments in the context of Assassin's Creed without thinking that people are just tired of "diversity" and worked backwards from that to make the argument.

I think it's both. People are tired of forced diversity and people wanted a Japanese dude, preferably one of the many famous ones from that period.

 

[Bernardougf]

 

[Lord Panda]

I think it's both. People are tired of forced diversity and people wanted a Japanese dude, preferably one of the many famous ones from that period.

Yep it was literally that simple.

 

[icecold1983]

I don't think this is the flex you're making it.
Don't get me wrong, I get the "nuance" here about historical accuracy but I cannot square the arguments in the context of Assassin's Creed without thinking that people are just tired of "diversity" and worked backwards from that to make the argument.

It's flat out retarded. I can't even imagine the thought bubbles above the trashtivists that comprise Ubisoft developers that led to this decision. You are making a game based around Samurai in historical Japan. Just make a Japanese male the MC. It's the easiest layup ever.

 

[Kumomeme]

they move the goal post again.

dual protagonist not the issue

the issue is DEI

 

[Pejo]

It's actually insane to think that if they just had a Japanese guy as the samurai, all of that drama wouldn't haven't existed and the game would have probably sold better, also not contributing to their stock crash.

Like it almost feels like stock manipulation and purposeful fucking over investors due to how loud and pervasive the feedback was from the greater gaming community that they willfully ignored.

 

[digimaster7]

uh huh, yeah its definitely because of the dual protag (sarcasm)

next time lets see you spend another 200mil on another japanese setting game with only yasuke as the protag and see how it goes, I dare you ubisoft

 

[Saber]

I don't care if the character is black or whatever race they want to make I don't play games for history accuracy.

Even if the main character was Japanese, if story is still boring it wouldn't make much difference which basically how I describe Ghost games.

Thats the thing Danji. People may not care, but Ubisoft care. To the point of telling explicity that its about history accuracy. To point of implement a type of gameplay that has nothing to do with the game.
They did this on their own accord in a way to score social points on the internet via drama farming. Reality is that they shoot themselves in the foot and now are moving goals in a desperate attempt to shift the blame and narrative.

 

[RoboFu]

Let's

A assassins creed in the region of Greece had a Greek hero.

One in Egypt had two Egyptian hero's

One in ancient Europe had a Viking hero

Then comes shadows set in Japan and we get... not a Japanese hero


Those cowards would never do a AC set in Africa even though it could be bad ass. It would have to have black tribes and that would be a big no no for them.

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

Ubisoft fatigue

 

[UltimaKilo]

Just like CoD, time to give the IP a much needed break. They have milked it to death.

 

[Zacfoldor]

 

[LectureMaster]

Fucking Ubi is playing dumb again.

Nobody had much issue with dual protagonists. People didn't have issues with syndicate, or Odyssey.

It's they fucking shoehorned Yasuke into the game and made him nothing of merits.

Story-wise imagine a well revered and battle forged samurai getting lectures daily by a 17 year old teenager and being like "oh yeah that's really inspiring, your high wisdom."

Gameplay-wise imagine an AC protagonist who can't run fast, can't assassin, and can't fucking even climb.

Such a disaster in multitudes, and the best Ubi can admit is oh sorry we shouldn't do dual characters.

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

They admit they knew it was dumb before even doing it but they did it anyway to own the chuds. In the end all they did was own themselves. Take the L.

 

[SomeNorseGuy]

But but, didn't the ALLIES show up circling the wagons and saving Ubi from the toxic chuds? Didn't they "win"? I'm confused now.

 

[ProtoByte]

I think it's both. People are tired of forced diversity and people wanted a Japanese dude, preferably one of the many famous ones from that period.

I think it's less that people wanted a Japanese dude and more that they resented what they got. It's not like a Japanese dude would've made the game more interesting or the writing of a higher quality. I've said many times that the more inspired choice might've been a Portuguese missionary.

Of course, what they wound up doing was controversial for its own sake and also added nothing.

 

[Bernardougf]

they move the goal post again.

dual protagonist not the issue

the issue is DEI

Thats the maximum mea culpa you will get from them ... they cant flat out say it "we fucked up having a black samurai in this particular game"

 

[The_hunter]

GTA 5 is the top selling game and has a triple protagonist.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

If I ever play the game I have no interest in playing Yasuke.

 

[Unfortunatecookie]

This is the actual source.

Am I missing something or does the actual interview contain zero mention of "severely underestimating the divisive potential" of going with a black samurai -- which is what adults are still raging about right before Christmas?

 

[Tommi84]

It's not about splitting into two characters... It's about a simple idiotic fact that out of ALL THE CHARACTERS, you chose A BLACK GUY to be a main lead in feudal Japan and defended this as if your lives depends on this. And everyone was telling you this is BEYOND STUPID

 

[Durin]

Hmm...I distinctly remember all this hopium and deflection during its release that it was selling great. Now before the year is over, we gotta talk about how they divided the fanbase.

Said the game would sell ok, but not make enough to fix their busted ass company, and feel content being right. The game still had bugs on release after multiple delays, still the same slop ARPG formula since Origins, still the same clunky storytelling, still the same shallow pointless side-activity bloat, etc. Diversity pandering with Yasuke based on some discredited fan-fiction book didn't land, as didn't separating out the gameplay mechanics.

At this point, I'd take the Chinese or Saudis having a go at managing this dumb company better. They don't even make bad games, they just make slop with a high graphical budget.

 

[Kerotan]

It's not about splitting into two characters... It's about a simple idiotic fact that out of ALL THE CHARACTERS, you chose A BLACK GUY to be a main lead in feudal Japan and defended this as if your lives depends on this. And everyone was telling you this is BEYOND STUPID

Didn't they also put in Chinese shrines?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

They are so desperate to admit something is wrong without admitting what exactly is wrong because it would break their woke ideology framework

 

[Pantz]

Come on, admit the other thing. You can do it.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

I think GoY really showed that you can have both the warrior and shinobi without sacrificing the story integrity, gatekeeping the content and creating the huge controversy out of thin Portugal air.

That being said two protag thing is not even bad in genral (quite worked in Syndicate), it's just the execution of the ideas is underbaked and sucks on multiple levels. And I'm not even touching on cultural aspect here, for me Yasuke was surprisingly the better part of the game.

 

[Signalis]

They need to stop releasing UBIslop and stop with their DEI bullshit, that will solve some of the problems.

 

[Varteras]

The issue that I and many other people had was nothing to do with multiple protagonists. It also wasn't some idea that we didn't want a Black guy as a playable character in an AC game. For a lot of us it had everything to do with wanting an AC game set in Japan for many years. When we finally got it, Ubisoft just couldn't help but take a Black man who was little more than a novelty of a Japanese warlord, and a tiny footnote in history, and turn him into one of two main characters. Instead of, you know, grabbing a historical Japanese male. Shit, even just making one up.

It didn't help that while Ubisoft and the DEI crowd were arguing for it and acted like they were breaking stereotypes, the first gameplay trailer had Yasuke's gameplay featuring a fucking trap/hip-hop mix and filter over traditional Japanese shamisen music. Because of course the people loudest about supposedly fighting racist stereotypes would somehow pigeonhole an entire skin color into an American subculture. I even saw them accuse White people of being racist for... *checks notes*... wanting Japanese characters in a Japanese setting.

You know the type. Some HOA Karen who walks up to the house of an affluent Black man like, "Umm... hey! Hey.. uh... homie. Listen. Ummm. You... ya'll can't be having no children's toys on yo lawn. After dark. Hahaha. No cap. You feel me? All good. One love, my n-word". Then awkwardly throws up gang signs. Now imagine an entire team of these wastes of air.

 

[Zuzu]

Play AC Shadows on Nightmare difficulty and you will see that both Naoe and Yasuke both have a role. Naoe is very weak in combat on that difficulty and Yasuke is harder to use for stealth because of how alert the enemies are. Their roles become more defined on Nightmare and makes each character have a clearer use case depending on what you want to do. If you need stronger stealth then you go with Naoe but if you need better combat then you go with Yasuke.

On the lower difficulties Naoe can deal decently with combat but not on Nightmare. Then Yasuke becomes more important to the gameplay.

 

[Gonzito]

The game should've focus 100% in Naoe

 

[The Cockatrice]

Gaf hates Ubisoft so comments here are predictable despite the game being good. As for the dual protagonist, yes it was divisive mainly because a japanese samurai would've been more fitting among other things but at least they took a risk which I gotta appreciate. Triple A games nowadays just play it safe.

 

[cormack12]

I bounced off after 45 hours. Game is beautiful but ultimately....

1. I play an assassin to assassinate. But no, I need to level up specific masteries, then equip specific gear and also craft additional runes onto the gear. Despite having an 'assassin' archetype. And even when you do this, you still can't take out all the daisho's. Much worse than what they did in Odyssey.
2. Why make towers clearable with Naoe then oh dear, only Yasuke can move this shelf to get the additional item.
3. Yasuke was just not fun to play. They could have done this so much better.

So yeah, all the elements of having a really good game just ruined with stupid decisions.

 

[calico]

While it's true the choice of protagonists was the bigger issue (which they can probably never admit they made a mistake with), there is also a mechanical issue with taking the typical, proven AC protagonist toolset (s-tier mobility, stealth, combat prowess) and splitting it across multiple protagonists. Once you make a decision to gimp each protagonist in at least one aspect -to justify the inclusion of the other protagonist- you have fucked with that proven formula in any given moment.

Even though 'choice of protagonists' and 'splitting the toolset over two protagonists' are really two different issues, I suspect it's likely that the former being the overriding priority ultimately led them down the path to the latter issue.

It didn't have to lead to that issue -even if we treat their choice of protagonists as set in stone- but avoiding it would have required an understanding of their own franchise and a competency in game design which they no longer possess.

 

[AzekZero]

Imo had they gone all in with the fantastical element of Yasuke being a Samurai, and called the game something less conspicuous like "Yasuke: An assassin's creed Saga" I think it would've soured a lot less people.

Also less plagiarism too.

The way I see it is that Ubisoft got conned by a woke grifter. Ubi were all-in on setting the record straight about the existence of samurai of African genetic descent.

When the grifter's book got shredded by real experts of Japanese history, Ubisoft had to quickly backtrack and justify Yasuke's inclusion as artistic license.

 

[GymWolf]

If only that was the real problem with the game...