By Jaylin Buchanan

Assassin’s Creed has been a beloved game franchise for many years and is one of Ubisoft’s most recognizable intellectual properties. Much of this is due to the series’ unique storytelling element of going back in time to act as an assassin and changing the course of history, which drew players in.

The most recent release in the franchise was Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which had players act as a samurai and a kunoichi during the Sengoku period of Japan, but according to Ubisoft, there was another game that was meant to be released in 2027 and had been in the works since 2024.

The game was going to be set during the Civil War, and the main character would have been a former slave who had become an assassin to battle against the Ku Klux Klan and the Confederacy. This setup is nothing new for Assassin’s Creed, so why did they feel the need to cancel it?

The answer is the current climate of America. At the time of the game’s cancellation in 2024, America had gone through increased polarization among citizens, especially considering the presidential race happening at the time. DEI was also gaining more focus in the public eye, with public figures beginning to weigh in on it.

In January of that year, the Florida Board of Education banned the use of federal and state funds for DEI initiatives in universities. There have also been boycotts of institutions that have been noted as starting DEI initiatives, so perhaps this is what the team of Assassin’s Creed thought might happen to their game.

Considering what happened with Shadows, it’s not unlikely. The main character in their latest game is Yasuke, a black character who was inspired by the real-life black samurai also named Yasuke. This got them criticism from some for their apparent historical inaccuracies, and even Elon Musk got involved, calling the game “woke.”

All of this happened despite Yasuke being a real person who did exist in Japan. So, with the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows being successful with a black protagonist, could we see the game Ubisoft cancelled be given another go? Well, it may be very unlikely, but not impossible.

One of the main reasons Ubisoft didn’t release the game is because of a concern with the current political climate of America, and that climate has been getting precarious after the election of Donald Trump, especially with the attacks on institutions that try to implement DEI practices.

That being said, a monetary incentive could be enough for them to push through this and still release the game. With the news surfacing that the game was cancelled, if enough people show interest it may encourage Ubisoft tor revisit the idea and perhaps release the game at some point in the future.

Considering the current administration, don’t count on it being released soon.

Graphic courtesy / Ubisoft