The maker of an Assassin's Creed Shadows statue has said it will now modify the model's design, after describing its appearance as “insensitive”.
In a statement posted yesterday via social media, modeling company Purearts said it had “immediately gone back to the drawing board” to rework its collectible figurine featuring Assassin's Creed Shadows main characters Yasuke and Naoe, after the “concerns” raised by some fans.
So what's the problem? Well, Purearts' original design included a broken torii gate, similar to one found in Nagasaki that broke amid the city's 1945 atomic bomb explosion. The “one-legged torii” of Nagasaki, in the city's reconstructed Sann&omacr Park. Sanctuary, it has been preserved as a reminder of the devastation of the city.
Customers who pre-ordered the model will be contacted soon with more information about their purchase, Purearts said.
Responses to Purearts' statement are mixed, with some suggesting that the company should have been more aware of the importance of the design before it went into production. Others suggest that this is yet another example of Assassin's Creed Shadows being embroiled in controversy by online commentators keen to highlight the issues.
Certainly, Assassin's Creed Shadows has had a bumpy road to release.
A recurring reaction to Yasuke's presence and role in Shadows caught the attention of Elon Musk earlier this year, while there were complaints about historical inaccuracies in concept art to be published in a collector's art book. In July, Ubisoft apologized for elements of the game's marketing campaign that had “caused concern” among some Japanese fans.
Last month, when Shadows was delayed to 2025 due to poor sales of Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot drew attention by saying his company was focused on “creating games for the widest possible audience, and “Our goal is not to push any specific agenda.” “.
“Of course we're making creative decisions, it's a video game,” Assassin's Creed Shadows art director and franchise veteran Thierry Dansereau told Eurogamer in August, adding that he was confident in how the game would ultimately be received.