Report: Ubisoft Cancels Assassin’s Creed Game Set in Post-American Civil War
An Assassin’s Creed game set during the post-American Civil War period was reportedly canceled, with reasons including the backlash surrounding Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and the current political climate in the United States.
That’s according to sources close to GameFile, who have shed details on this now-canceled project.
Cancelled Assassin’s Creed Game Would Have Starred a Former Black Slave, Fighting for Justice in the South
A new report has just been published by Gamefile’s Stephen Totilo, who says they’ve interviewed five current and former Ubisoft employees over the cancellation of a new Assassin’s Creed game.
GameFile wrote:
“The new game would have brought the history-spanning series to one of its most modern settings: The American Civil War and, moreso, the Reconstruction period that followed in the 1860s and 1870s.
In this Reconstruction-era Assassin’s Creed, gamers would play as a Black man who had been formerly enslaved in the South and moved west to start a new life. Recruited by the series’ Assassins, he would return to the South to fight for justice in a conflict that would, among other things, see him confront the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan.”
Game cancellation, especially those yet to be announced, is a pretty common thing for our industry to see. However, this wasn’t due to project funding or being dissatisfied by the shape the game was in, but rather due to political reasons. Gamefile listed the following as the reason for the game’s cancellation:
- Online backlash that spring to the reveal of Yasuke, a historically-inspired Black samurai, as a protagonist in the company’s then-upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows; and
- Concern that the political climate in the United States was becoming increasingly tense
With all the controversy and backlash that Assassin’s Creed: Shadows received online, the title went on to be one of the most successful in the franchise, achieving the third-largest launch in the United States, becoming the best-selling game in Europe, and was the second-highest day-one revenue for the series at launch.
Despite that, in the end, it appears that Ubisoft gave in to the pressure, with one developer saying the title was “too political in a country too unstable, to make it short, ” with another saying, “I was terribly disappointed but not surprised by leadership.”
It’s worth noting that the game was only in the concept phase, although it initially received approval from Ubisoft. The game was still years away from release, likely after 2027, given the current development cycles.
In other Assassin’s Creed news, while Ubisoft has yet to confirm its existence, more evidence regarding the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag remake has surfaced, and it seems it’s just a matter of time until it’s formally unveiled.
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