Ubisoft comments on Yasuke criticism in Assassin's Creed Shadows: "Some of it was a bit expected"

Ubisoft has faced a slew of criticism and backlash for Assassin's Creed Shadows over the past 12 months. Whether it's fans voicing their thoughts about the representation of Japan and Japanese culture in the game, the insensitive collectible figure, or the inclusion of Yasuke and how his story has been incorporated, the developer has been in hot water for a long while.

Despite this being the case, Ubisoft is launching Assassin's Creed Shadows next week, on March 20, as part of a delayed arrival, and with that coming up very quickly, we've had the chance to speak with creative director Jonathan Dumont for an interview coming to Gamereactor next week.

As a sneak peek, we asked Dumont about Yasuke and whether there was ever any expectation for the character to generate as much flak and backlash as he did. Dumont told us the following:

"I guess some of it was a bit expected, but we believed and still believe that Yasuke is a great character for the Assassin's Creed universe. Aside from the gameplay aspects, where his gameplay is very different from Naoe, he is a very intriguing historical character that allowed us to create a rich narrative from the little historical information we had. I don't want to spoil his story and how he is connected to our lore, but his unique perspective of a man between two worlds, who is given a new chance in Japan, complemented Naoe's character very well."

Stay tuned for the full interview with Dumont next week, and also our review of Assassin's Creed Shadows, which will be going live on March 18 at 17:00 GMT/18:00 CET.