Ubisoft allegedly scrapped early plans for an Assassin’s Creed game set during the U.S. post-Civil War period, a report has claimed, with the decision made primarily due to anxiety surrounding the country’s current political climate.
Game File reported on the previously-unknown project’s cancelation, and stated that Ubisoft ultimately decided to walk away from its plans in July 2024 amid increasing political tensions in the U.S., and after a strong backlash to the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Shadows co-protagonist Yasuke, a historical Black samurai.
The unnamed project was also planned to feature a Black protagonist, a former slave from the South who would join the Assassins and fight the Ku Klux Klan.
While still in the concept phase, early work had been greenlit by Ubisoft bosses in Paris and was underway at Assassin’s Creed Shadows development studio Ubisoft Quebec (which previously also led work on the Ancient Greek-set Odyssey and Victorian London-based Syndicate).
Set during the U.S. Reconstruction period, the game’s story would naturally have dealt with issues such as the rights of former Black slaves, racial violence, and fallout from the assassination of US president Abraham Lincoln. Several flashback sequences were also planned to be set during the Civil War itself.
Word of the decision filtered through the company last summer just days after the attempted assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania, though was not directly connected to this event, the report states.
Sources told Game File that the idea behind the game had been to show how racial tensions can be used to control society. Instead, in a sources, words, Ubisoft ultimately decided the project was “too political in a country too unstable.”
More generally, the cancelation came amid a turbulent time for Ubisoft which, aside from the delayed but successful launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, has otherwise suffered a number of high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations.
As of this month, Assassin’s Creed — alongside Far Cry and Rainbow Six — are now run by Vantage Studios, the newly-named separate business entity formed by Ubisoft with a 25% stake from Chinese giant Tencent. The first Ubisoft ‘Creative House,’ Vantage Studios will comprise workers within the company’s Quebec studio, alongside Montréal, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia offices, and has been told it has complete creative and business control.
The Assassin’s Creed franchise is, as ever, enjoying a bustling period of releases, with the first expansion for Assassin’s Creed Shadows launched last month, and Saudi Arabia-funded DLC for Assassin’s Creed Mirage coming soon. A highly-anticipated remake of pirate entry Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag remains unannounced, but is widely expected to arrive in the not-too-distant future.
Ubisoft declined to comment to Game File for its report. A Ubisoft spokesperson also decined comment to IGN today.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
