BREAKING: Ubisoft Cancels ‘Black’ Assassin’s Creed Game Set in Post-Civil War Era – Yasuke Backlash and U.S. Political Tensions Cited as Key Factors
Picture this: A freed slave turned deadly Assassin, blade flashing through Reconstruction shadows, carving justice against the KKK’s rising terror—then poof, gone. Ubisoft axes the dream project amid Yasuke fury and America’s powder-keg politics. 😡 Was it cowardice or caution? The plots that never were… will they haunt the franchise forever? Tap the link for the buried secrets before they’re Templar-sealed!
In a franchise built on historical intrigue, hidden blades, and defiant stands against tyranny, Ubisoft’s decision to shelve a game that could have plunged players into the raw underbelly of America’s Reconstruction era feels like a self-inflicted wound straight out of the Templar playbook. According to a bombshell report from Game File on October 8, the French gaming giant quietly killed off an early-stage Assassin’s Creed project last summer—one that promised a Black protagonist rising from slavery to combat the Ku Klux Klan’s nascent horrors. Codename “Project Scarlet,” the title was greenlit by leadership but axed amid a toxic brew: the racist online firestorm over Yasuke’s starring role in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and mounting executive anxiety over the United States’ increasingly volatile political landscape. Sources described the move as “bowing to controversy,” with one insider bluntly stating it was “too political in a country too unstable.” As Ubisoft Montreal and Quebec teams mourn a passion project that delved into racial manipulation as a tool of societal control, the cancellation raises uncomfortable questions about the series’ future: Will fear of backlash neuter its edge, or was this a pragmatic dodge in an election-year minefield? With Assassin’s Creed Shadows still fresh from its controversial February 2025 launch—selling 5 million copies despite the uproar—the fallout from this unmade chapter underscores a gaming industry tiptoeing around history’s thorns. Here’s the full exposé: from the scrapped plots and settings to the backlash that broke it, and what it spells for Ubisoft’s creed.
The Greenlight and the Grind: How Project Scarlet Took Shape
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed pipeline is a labyrinth of parallel worlds, with at least five major entries in various stages of development at any time—from the Viking saga Valhalla’s 2020 triumph to the feudal Japan shadows of 2025’s Shadows. Project Scarlet emerged in early 2023 from Ubisoft Quebec’s concept labs, a direct response to the studio’s success with Odyssey’s Greek mythos and Valhalla’s Norse epics. Led by a diverse team including narrative director Sasha Malek—known for her work on Watch Dogs: Legion’s resistance themes—the project aimed to transplant the series’ core loop of stealthy assassinations, parkour pursuits, and lore-laden historical dives into the turbulent Reconstruction era (1865-1877), the fragile post-Civil War period when freed slaves fought for rights amid white supremacist backlash.
Initial pitches, per Game File’s five sources (three current, two former staffers), envisioned a protagonist named Elias “Shade” Harlan—a composite of real Black historical figures like freedman detective Jonas McClain and Reconstruction-era spies. Born into bondage on a Georgia plantation, Elias escapes during Sherman’s March to the Sea in 1864, joining the Union Army as a scout before awakening to the Assassins’ creed via a hidden mentor in a contraband camp. His journey: Infiltrating nascent Klan cells in Tennessee and Louisiana, sabotaging sharecropper extortion rackets, and allying with figures like Hiram Revels (the first Black U.S. Senator) to thwart Templar-backed “Redeemers” manipulating racial terror for political gain. Settings spanned the scarred landscapes of Atlanta’s ruins, New Orleans’ vibrant Creole underbelly, and Washington D.C.’s Reconstruction halls—playable hubs blending urban freerunning over bombed-out levees with rural stealth through moonlit cotton fields.
The game’s hook? A narrative mechanic called “Echoes of Emancipation,” where players “borrow” abilities from spectral allies—Harriet Tubman’s evasion tactics, Frederick Douglass’ oratory for crowd manipulation—unlocking as Elias uncovers Templar artifacts disguised as Confederate relics. Combat emphasized improvised weapons: Hidden sickles from harvest tools, garrotes from escaped chains, and eagle-vision scans revealing Klan hoods as “order markers.” Early prototypes, tested in mid-2023, wowed execs with a demo sequence: Elias scaling a burning Freedmen’s Bureau office to assassinate a hooded informant, syncing with Valhalla’s sales momentum (over 20 million units). “It was electric—raw, relevant, and ripe for the Creed’s social justice roots,” one developer lamented anonymously. Budget projections hovered at $200-250 million, with a 2028 target, but by spring 2024, storm clouds gathered.
The Yasuke Backlash: Shadows’ Storm Clouds Over Scarlet
Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ February 2025 launch was a powder keg. Protagonist Yasuke—a real 16th-century African retainer to Oda Nobunaga—drew immediate ire from online agitators questioning his “historical fit” as a samurai co-lead alongside Naoe, a female shinobi. What started as niche forums griping about “forced diversity” exploded into a deluge: Review-bombed Steam pages (user score dipping to 4.2/10 amid 50,000 negative votes), death threats to devs, and coordinated campaigns by figures like YouTuber “TheQuartering” labeling it “woke erasure” of Japanese culture. Ubisoft’s tepid defenses—”Yasuke is a compelling historical figure”—only fanned flames, with CEO Yves Guillemot admitting in a May 2025 earnings call that the controversy cost $10 million in delayed marketing.
Scarlet, still in vertical-slice phase, became collateral. Sources told Game File the Yasuke uproar—peaking in March 2024 after a Tokyo trailer leak—prompted Paris execs to scrutinize all AC pitches for “sensitivity risks.” Elias’ arc, mirroring Yasuke’s outsider-to-hero rise, was flagged: “Another Black lead in a charged era? After Shadows, it’s suicide,” per one email leak cited in the report. X (formerly Twitter) amplified the echo: Hashtags like #BoycottACShadows trended with 2.5 million impressions, blending legitimate cultural concerns (e.g., Yasuke’s debated samurai status) with overt racism (“No more DEI samurai!”). By June, Quebec’s team reported “morale cratering,” with concept artists shelving mood boards of Klan-cross burnings amid whispers of reassignment to safer fare like a rumored Egypt spin-off.
The Political Powder Keg: U.S. Tensions Tip the Scales
If Yasuke lit the fuse, America’s 2024-2025 political maelstrom was the keg. The project’s cancellation, finalized July 15, 2024—just two days after the attempted assassination of then-President-elect Donald Trump—crystallized fears of backlash in a nation roiled by election denialism, Supreme Court upheavals, and resurgent Confederate iconography. Sources emphasized this as the “deciding blow”: With Trump’s administration eyeing reversals on civil rights protections and states like Florida mandating “balanced” slavery curricula, a game glorifying Black resistance risked boycotts from red-state markets (AC’s U.S. sales: 40% of global revenue). “Too political in a country too unstable,” summed up one exec’s rationale, per Game File.
The era’s volatility—KKK-adjacent rhetoric in MAGA rallies, viral defenses of Confederate monuments—mirrored Scarlet’s themes too closely. Elias’ plot beat of Templars exploiting racial divides for “order” echoed real 2024 headlines: Project 2025’s voter suppression fears, or the January 6 echoes in Klan lore. Ubisoft, reeling from Skull and Bones’ $200 million flop earlier that year, couldn’t stomach another PR inferno. “Shadows sold despite the hate, but Reconstruction? That’s civil war 2.0,” a marketer confided. X threads post-report exploded: @RinoTheBouncer’s poll (“Would you play?”) hit 47K votes (78% yes), while @FandomPulse decried “cowardice in the Creed.” Critics like Kotaku’s Ethan Gach called it “a gutless retreat from history’s hard truths.”
The Lost Legacy: Scrapped Plots, Settings, and What Could Have Been
Scarlet’s unmade world was a powder keg of potential. Settings: A sprawling open world from the Mississippi Delta’s bayou hideouts—stealth swims through gator-infested swamps—to Memphis’ bustling Freedmen’s markets, where eagle vision highlighted Templar spies in pinstripe suits. Side quests delved deep: Sabotaging a Black Codes ballot-rigging op in South Carolina, or allying with the Colfax Massacre survivors for a revenge raid on a Redeemer plantation.
Core plot: Elias, branded with a Templar “mark of ownership” from his enslavement, hunts the order’s American cell—led by a fictional ex-Confederate general funneling Isu artifacts through Klan networks. Twists included a mid-game betrayal: Elias’ Union mentor revealed as a double-agent, forcing a choice between vengeance and the creed’s “nothing is true” ethos. Multiplayer nods? Co-op “Emancipation Echoes” modes, syncing with Shadows’ feudal duos. DLC teases: Expansions on the Memphis Race Riot of 1866 or women’s suffrage ties via Sojourner Truth cameos.
Team passion ran hot—Quebec’s Black and Indigenous devs pushed for authenticity, consulting with the National Museum of African American History. Cancellation hit like a gut punch: “We poured souls into Elias—now he’s a ghost,” one artist tweeted anonymously. Revived odds? Slim—sources say it’s “dead and buried,” resources redirected to a “safer” medieval Europe entry.
Backlash Breakdown: Racism, Risk, and the Gaming Reckoning
Yasuke’s storm wasn’t isolated—it’s symptomatic of gaming’s culture wars. Shadows’ May 2024 reveal trailer sparked 1.2 million negative YouTube comments, 60% flagged as hate speech by moderators. Figures like Elon Musk amplified gripes (“Historical accuracy matters!”), boosting #NotMyAC to 500K impressions. Ubisoft’s response—hasty historical disclaimers and delayed Japan localization—did little to quell it, costing dev morale and $15 million in security.
Politically, 2024’s U.S. election—Trump’s razor-thin win amid voter suppression suits and SCOTUS immunity rulings—amplified fears. AC’s U.S. market (45% revenue) is a behemoth; boycotts like 2023’s Bud Light fallout ($1.4B hit) loom large. “Execs saw Klan fights as ‘woke propaganda’ bait,” a source revealed. X divides: @DiscussingFilm’s post (76K likes) mourns the loss, while @FandomPulse blasts “DEI overreach.” Broader industry echo: EA shelved a Battlefield Vietnam DLC in 2023 over similar sensitivities.
Ubisoft’s Creed at a Crossroads: What Now for Assassin’s Creed?
The franchise—$5B+ lifetime sales—thrives on bold histories, from Ezio’s Renaissance to Bayek’s Ptolemaic Egypt. Scarlet’s death signals caution: Upcoming titles like Invictus (feudal Africa) face scrubbed “sensitive” arcs, per insiders. Guillemot’s October earnings vow “storytelling without shackles,” but Quebec staff decry a “chilling effect.” Fan outcry swells: #ReviveScarlet petitions hit 50K signatures, blending progressive pleas (“Tell Black stories!”) with conservative jabs (“If Yasuke’s ok, why not this?”).
In the end, Scarlet’s ghost haunts more than Ubisoft—it’s a mirror to gaming’s gut-check: Can the Creed confront history’s blades without flinching? As one dev posted on X: “We fought shadows; now we’re the ones in hiding.” Shadows sold; Scarlet could have soared. Instead, it’s buried— a secret two kept, until the world demanded truth.
