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Ubisoft’sAssassin’s Creed Shadowshas been in a bit of hot water recently, with multiple allegations being brought against the developer/publisher duo in recent months.
Despite the game being set in feudal Japan, a vocal section of the Japanese audience has not taken to the game too kindly – with many calling Ubisoft out for certain aspects of the game.
In a recent statement made from the official Ubisoft Japan X account, it has been confirmed that certain elements of the game will be missing from the Japanese release, which has only served to infuriate the player base even further.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows to censor certain elements in Japan
The Japanese Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO), is routinely tasked with assigning appropriate age ratings for video games in Japan, and Ubisoft’s upcomingAssassin’s Creed Shadowswas recently reviewed by the board.
CERO has rated the game with a ‘Z’, implying that it contains adult themes and heavy amounts of gore and/or body dismemberment – which is quite typical of Assassin’s Creed games, which follow quite mature undertones.
A CERO Z rating also means that the game cannot be legally sold to anyone under the age of 18 – for both the PC and console versions.
Yasuke Doesn’t Deserve the Hate: Assassin’s Creed Shadows Is Just Another Chapter of Outsider Heroes
Despite this Z rating, the board has decided to extensively censor the game for no apparent reason, removing any instances of body dismemberment. Developer Ubisoft Quebec was reportedly forced to comply with the matter, removing the in-game toggle to switch enemy dismemberment on or off entirely.
Additionally, the depiction of severed body parts has also been drastically altered, as hassome of the Japanese dialogue in the European and North American retail versionsof the game code.
The removal of this particular ‘feature’ is quite unfortunate, as is most kinds of censorship. Japanese players will most certainly be disappointed with this arbitrary removal.
Japan’s CERO board has been quite inconsistent with ratings
This isn’t the first time that the CERO board has come under scrutiny for its inconsistent ratings though, with a prominent example being with regards toStellar Blade. The game depicts a ton of gore and dismemberment, despite which the game was awarded a CERO D rating – which allows it to be legally sold to non-adults with parental consent.
“If Western Games don’t wake up soon..”: Stellar Blade and Black Myth: Wukong Success Brings a Bad News to Ubisoft, Sony and Many Other Publishers
The CERO D rating also came without any removal of the said violent sections, which caused a strong response from EA Japan. For the uninitiated, theDead Spaceremake was also heavily censored in Japan, and the ‘double standards’ expressed here do seem to be quite disingenuous.
The whole situation appears to be quite unfortunate, and it is hoped that CERO sorts things out soon. After all, meaningless and arbitrary ratings only serve to alienate potential players – in addition to painting a very skewed picture of the video game industry’s administration in general.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has a lot more issues going on
The recent censorship drama is just one of the several issues plaguing the game. In particular, the game hasstirred some controversyregarding its protagonist, Yasuke – which has not been taken to kindly by a vocal section of gamers, accusing the company of shoehorning the character into the game to promote certain ‘agendas’.
A recent preview event also resulted in a rather lukewarm response from attendees, with many pointing out recurring issues and clunky gameplay elements which could be a potential problem in the full, retail version.
“History is inherently diverse”: Ubisoft Defending Assassin’s Creed Shadows Yasuke Controversy is Hypocrisy at its Finest
This, coupled with Ubisoft’s recent slump into mediocrity and stagnation does not paint a positive look for the game.
One does wonder whetherShadowswill be able to bring the publisher back to its glory days, or remain as the final nail in the coffin.
Dipan Saha
Articles Published :396
Dipan has been contributing to FandomWire’s Gaming and Gaming Tech sections for over half a year now. He loves writing about AAA, indie and gacha games - along with dabbling in tech from time to time. Some of his favorite games include Prince of Persia (2008), Animal Well and Death Stranding.
