Assassin's Creed Shadows release pulled over 'insensitive' design

Whoever is doing the PR stuff for Assassin’s Creed Shadows over at Ubisoft probably really hates their job, because it seems like there’s always some new drama surrounding this cursed game every single week.

To be fair, I personally didn’t understand why this one was such a big deal until I looked into it a little more. But once I did… yeesh.

As initially covered by IGN’s Ryan Dinsdale, Ubisoft have landed themselves in hot water following the recent advertisements for a new Assassin’s Creed Shadows figurine.

The figure in question is (or rather, was) being produced by PureArts, who have worked with Ubisoft several times in the past for a bunch of Assassin’s Creed-related merch.

Their latest figurine features chibi versions of Assassin’s Creed Shadows protagonists Yasuke and Naoe, the latter of whom is perched atop a one-legged torii gate.

In case you’re unaware of what a torii gate is, they’re usually situated at the entrance to a shrine. Entering through a torii gate is supposed to signify that you’re passing into a sacred space.

So, you’re probably asking yourself why this is a problem. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set in Japan and torii gates are a part of Japanese history. Simply featuring one in a piece of artwork or in-game clearly isn’t an issue, otherwise Ghost of Tsushima would have been torn to shreds.

Well, it’s not just that the figurine features a torii gate. It’s specifically that the torii gate in question is a one-legged torii gate.

To many in Japan, one-legged torii gates are synonymous with Sannō Shrine in Nagasaki. The torii gate in question was mostly destroyed during WW2, following the Atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945.

Somehow, even though the torii gate in question is located close to the very epicentre of the nuclear explosion, half of the structure remained upright. As a result, the Sannō Shrine has become a bit of a landmark in Nagasaki… which is probably why some people aren’t too happy at the idea of seeing a ninja from a video game perched atop a torii gate that looks a lot like it.

PureArts has since apologised for the blunder, referring to the design as “insensitive” in a post on Twitter.