Ah, can't criticise the MC in black history month. Smart. They can wade of a lot of critique that way and if the game is bad they can use that talking point to stray people away from talking about how bad the game is. People will just think, ah that crowd is going at it again complaining, might as well check this game out. 

It's smart, but also such a low blow move for them at the same time. I know some on the net are saying "but it's just Feb", and well tbh they could have chosen any other month, yet they specifically chose Feb, which is BHM, and Yasuke himself is Black, meaning they want to try appealing to that market, instead of the one the game itself is based on (they also backed out of the Tokyo Game show, which tells that nation they don't care, and their bs excuse for "polish" isn't really holding much water with what is happening internally). 

It's just wild to see that someone on the inside is calling the worst possible shots, or listening to the worst advisors. We know they don't want a repeat of Outlaws, but this is totally different, because Outlaws was just "meh", but Shadows has so far been at odds with the very nation it's originally marketing towards, but also anyone else calling out their narrative. 

The stolen symbols, the Torii gate, them having journos rush to NYC papers to slander gamers, the "historian" who was publicly cited and found to be a manipulator/liar, and their weak excuse of "we were never about historical accuracy", yet they use the era, the setting and historical characters as their center pieces.

Like it's fine if you want to make a "what if?" game, but Ubisoft, ever since Creed 1 never boldly stated their franchise was a huge "what if?", not even in their trailers did they push the "what if" narrative they are now choosing to go for (since 2020, which was when they started pushing that defence point). A publisher should never swap in and out of what they think their game is or was, because it was what is was when it first spawned back in the day. It's like saying Prince of persia was never about the sands of time, or who the characters are, etc, it'd just be a clusterfuck to dick around with the blueprint.

For those that need a catch-up on what's been going on:

A low blow indeed if that's the goal. You can smell the fear on them, I just imagine them sweating now making these rash decisions. I really hope the beat for them and this moment humbles the fuck out of them, they change up their formula and give us some good new IP. I'd hate to see them fail as shite as they are the last decade. 

Black History Month is October for Europe, February for America, Ubisoft is a French company. February is a very popular spot for AAA releases in the past few years. The game was scheduled for November release and has seemingly been delayed for polishing reasons, it's not going to get a lengthy delay if the delay is only for polish, and AAAs don't tend to (but do sometimes) release in January.

Ergo, February. Where multiple other AAAs are scheduled to release already for 2025.

Also, Ubisoft's FY ends March 31st, 2025. They're clearly still trying to release it in their FY so it's either January, February, or March; Better for them to do it sooner than March so that more sales are reflected in the FY reporting, early January is just coming off Christmas, late January could be possible but most tend to opt for February and it gives them that extra bit of polish after that Christmas break.

Not everything has to be a conspiracy theory.

Did I say it was a conspiracy theory? (btw, I'm not the only one who sees this, so you may as well just be brutal and call everyone seeing that on the wall as a nutter and get it over with).

They could still choose any other month?. and yes I know they are chasing their FY, which was also another factor.

You don't have to say it, Lol. Yes, I am labelling it as a conspiracy theory when it is being said that they chose February specifically for Black History Month so that the French company could somehow make themselves immune to criticisms and label everyone as a bigot due to releasing in an American holiday month...You realise how that sounds? Lol. 

They delayed it for polishing reasons, we know that already, we also know their FY ends March 2025. Logic says to us that these are the factors as to why it's releasing in February. They could have chosen another month? Why? Do you honestly expect a mega corporation would change their business plans and release schedules based entirely around the ramblings of some internet users?

The only other months they could have logically chosen were January or March if they were aiming to still get it in their FY and I already gave reasons as to why they likely picked February, tons of publishers release in February but suddenly Ubisoft isn't allowed cause they have a black character in their game? Well BHM is celebrated in February and October so I guess both those months are off-limits now.

Yves in the letter even went out his way to straight up run away from taking a political stance.

"Lastly, I’d like to address the recent polarized coverage around our creative choices. We are an entertainment company. As such, our objective is not to endorse any specific agenda. Our mission has always been to entertain players and enrich their lives with original and memorable experiences, that resonate with a global audience."

The world also doesn't revolve around America.

It feels like they disrespect the culture too much tbh.
Assassins creed doesn't feel like its a homage to different nations and cultures, if this is how they go about it.
Its a mockery instead.  Esp. when they come out and say "most historically accurate assasins creed to date".

Also their source on Yasuke was like a youtuber, that published books or something.... not a actual historian.
Then you have all of them comeing out saying "history is like this!" source this book, by this guy.
That guy then is just some random that wrote a book (who actual historians refute).

Yasuke is a samurai in this game, because they wanted a black samurai... end of it.
Its DEI stuff forced into a game.... which is fine, if they just came out and said "its a game, we made, it can be whatever we want it to be".
Instead of going "its the most historical accurate thing ever".

Meanwhile they make figurines, showing this gateway to the gods (of theirs) of a shrine, that got blasted apart by a nuke.

My god.

EA and DICE did the same thing with BFV in 2018, talking up how accurate the game was going to be when it couldn't be any clearer it wasn't very accurate, and that did not end well. That was also back when there was minor pushback against those things compared to now.

If I were Ubi, I'd either come clean that accuracy was not key to the games direction, or take the time to make AC Shadows much more accurate. Problem now however, is if they do take the time with a delay, they need to make sure it's insanely accurate, because people will go through that game with a fine tooth comb and will blow every inaccuracy out of proportion.

Wasn't that also around the time where their CEO said "Don't like the game, don't buy it"?, and afaik they had some party which celebrated dunking on "bigot" gamers or something. Either way it did not end well for EA. 

I honestly don't think them delaying it is going to save the game. The other stuff they are doing feels more damaging to their overall image than the gameplay itself for Shadows.