Hideki Kamiya talks about Assassin's Creed Shadows

He basically says that normal people don't care about the controversy, and that he feels sympathy for the devs. So a Japanese developer doesn't seem to mind that the protagonist is a black man. Some quotes from the linked article!

Hideki Kamiya has defendedAssassin’s Creed Shadowsbelieving the game has received a lot of hate from a few “super-intense people.”

Another quote:

Writing on X (via machine translation), Hideki Kamiya revealed that he felt bad for Ubisoft following the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. “I felt bad that it was being criticized so much, but [i’m] glad that it seems to be doing well in both sales and reviews.”

He seems to feel bad about the grifters trying to sabotage the game.

Another quote:

Amidst Shadows’ success, Kamiya believes that a lot of the hate stems from a vocal minority who are just making “a big fuss.”

“This isn’t limited to this case, but while there are a few super-intense people who make a big fuss saying, ‘I won’t tolerate that!’, the other majority of normal people who take an ‘it’s fine’ stance are basically silent, he explained. “I wonder if there’s no way to make these “normal people” equally visible in everything…"

Hopefully more Japanese devs speak out against the grifters. Japanese people have already stated that they don't care, by large. Maybe more prominent Japanese people can speak out. Then grifters won't have anyone to hide behind.

Link: https://www.dexerto.com/assassins-creed/legendary-japanese-dev-says-normal-people-dont-care-about-assassins-creed-shadows-controversy-3168442/

Another 20 pages of culture war garbage. Freaking great.

Yeah there's a lot of sensationalism on the internet, and people seem to love their pitchforks and torches, they have them right by the door with the umbrellas now. It's nice to see him offer some rational thoughts on this.

Seeing TC's posts, this thread's gonna devolve real quick.

When one side stops accusing everything of being woke, then I'll stop these threads.

If the culture war grifters behave, it'll be a great thread. 😉

@luxuryheart: More like if you don't antagonize. 😉

Imagine the kind of person who writes Assassin's Creed: Shadows. How insufferable they must be as their fucked up leftist politics spill into every conversation.

Hideki Kamiya is irrelevant. Hasn't made a good game in ages.

They poke the bear constantly. If they cut the 💩, then I'll stop as well. Contrary to popular belief, I liked this place much better when it was just console wars and other stuff. I liked when we all talked about the games and the sales (outside of culture war BS). Though until the mods do something or until they stop with the culture war BS, I'm just going to join the fray. Can't beat them, join them.

Don't lie. He's made great games, even if his attitude is a lot to be desired. I'm any case, I like his attitude in *this* particular situation. Majority of gamers need to stand up to these culture war grifters.

You ask them to behave, yet call them grifters in the first post. Probably not the best start to the topic.

But they are grifters.🤷🏾‍♂️

On to topic. Some folks speak on behalf of Japan with "the Japanese people aren't really happy with what Ubisoft has done to the game". So, Hideki is not Japanese.🙃

Thanks for the opinion? 🤷🏾‍♂️

I wasn't sharing one but thanks for your opinion the matter.🤷🏾‍♂️

You were, but thanks for your statement saying you weren't. 🤷🏾‍♂️

I wasn't but I appreciate your opinion on the matter for the second time.🤷🏾‍♂️

You were, but thanks again. 🤷🏾‍♂️

So you're saying the nothingburger controversy I've been saying since day one is part of the bullshit culture war people think is being waged against them so that grifters can get rich off of useful idiots is exactly that: a nothingburger controversy?

I'm shocked. SHOCKED I SAY!

Seriously though it's nonsense. Just nonsense all the way to the bottom. Or perhaps poppycock, if you like. Balderdash, too, I say!

Your opinion on the matter is appreciated for the third time.🤷🏾‍♂️

Grifters and idiots are a match made in heaven.😂

Problem with grifters doesn't change the fact that Ubisoft is psychotic. Hope they go out of business.

We're not going to coddle them. We're going to call them out.

Basically, this. Once again, I'd like to go back to the old system wars. I liked gaming discussions before Zoe Quinn dumped that guy, and he retaliated by starting gamergate.

@luxuryheart: So they supposedly poke the bear constantly, but your solution is to start a thread antagonistically and expect them to behave when you called them grifters. Truly remarkable logic.

I've spent about 6+ hours with AC Shadows and haven't encountered any leftist politics.

There were a couple lines about how odd it was a black man is in Japan (which it was, in the 1500's), and that's about it.

But I do like to imagine the kind of person that sits on video game forums and thinks "the leftists" are out to get him. It's a pretty funny mental image. "OH NO THE LEFTISTS!"

Well, if you're tired of it, you can do your part and start calling out the folks that think "leftists" are waging a culture war on them. Maybe inform them they're part of an outrage machine ran by far-right grifters and corporations, that there is no real controversy. That a black man in Japan might have been a bit of an oddity but it's not a big fracking deal ultimately

I bet Mark "Grumz" Kern (former Blizzard dev) hated to see this.

I agree with calling these folks out. They have been given unbridle reign with their foolishness and some folks expect others to just sit back and say nothing. "Don't poke the bear."😂 How silly.

Did have a chuckle.

Like... It's getting to the point where they just don't want certain characters in a game. If my brother made a game, and I was a character, they would call it woke. "Why is a bisexual black woman in MY game?"

Like... Is it really hard to picture me in a game? Heck, look at Megan Thee Stallion! She's a bisexual black woman. Is it hard to picture her in a video game? Is it hard to picture her as a character in a show, movie, book, anime, etc? Especially since she's gaining popularity globally now?

And I can get behind not wanting problematic and harmful stereotypes being shown as true. One trope I hate is the black female character that's only there to prop up and help the main character. That is a racist and problematic trope that needs to be done away with. Another one is the problematic and racist tropes in couples, canon and fanon. I hate the trope of a very primal dark skinned foreign person with a lighter skinned proper and civilized person. That's a racist trope that needs to be done away. I can talk about so much more!

Yet the anti-woke don't even explore that aspect of it. They just simply don't want those characters in their works.

I wouldn't mind making a game where the protagonist was inspired by Megan Thee Stallion.😏

Good on Hideki Kamiya. 👍

Dude also makes some damn great games.

I wouldn't be surprised if there ever was. She's very popular now, and she's known globally. People really like her, and she had a lot of brand deals. I wouldn't be surprised if we get a game about her in a few years.

@lundy86_4: I wish people would stop using steam player counts as a proxy for a game's success when it's a multi-platform game that is also available on multiple store fronts on the PC.

It's a meme... Wouldn't take it all too seriously. I agree, there are multiple avenues of purchase and subscribing to Ubi+.

The Japanese are laughing at us Westerners for engaging in these silly "culture" wars regardless of what side we take in them.

Do we really need another thread on this silly controversy?

Have too agree, one can dislike Ubisoft as a company for many reasons but for the game itself.. nah

It's an Assassins Creed game tailor made for Assassin Creed fans, that's it.

The demographic who likes these games seems overwhelmingly positive with Shadows. & that's what really matters here. It's being enjoyed and selling. Ubisoft made a product fans want.

Kamiya made Bayonetta 3 a few years ago and that scored 9/10 on this site. But even if he didn't make anything in ages, this kind of "what have you done for me lately" argument is silly as it doesn't change the fact that he created numerous GOAT games like Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Okami and Bayonetta.

Let's not forget that liberal online mobs were trying to "cancel" Bayonetta 3 a few years ago because the original Bayonetta voice actress made false accusations about Kamiya (over pay issues)... The right-wing mobs trying to "cancel" AC Shadows today are no better than the leftist mobs who were trying to "cancel" Bayonetta 3 back then. His issue is with online "culture war" mobs in general, regardless of whether it's left-wing mobs or right-wing mobs.

Do you even know what a grifter is?

People are better standing against the activist who are destroying IP's and making these game companies go bankrupt. What's worse? A guy bitching on a YouTube channel or someone who has to shove their agenda into a 300 million dollar project only for it to fail and shutdown the studio?

Can't the anti-woke incels just find games that aren't going to offend their sensibilities like, oh, say, Tetris and Minesweeper? Since they contain no humans to get angry at with no sense of personal agency, voila, problem solved

That's the worst part. Reminds me of the character designer from Concord bitching. She was given such a gift, the opportunity to design for a massive project, and ruined it all with ugly characters driven by repulsive agenda, helping to kill the game and studio.

What agenda? What are you even talking about?

Concord designs were "bad" due to the art style. If it was an art style like Cuphead or Don't Starve, it'd be considered quirky.

How will they make their money?

@warm_gun: Are you genuinely trying to make the argument that Concord failed because of a single designer which conveniently is a woman?

Read what I said again. I'm not gonna explain it to you, since you're just being disrespectful by simplifying what I said. Are you ever going to say anything serious?

On the shitshow that is X/Twitter, a number of Western non-Japanese users are calling Hideki Kamiya... a "race traitor"! 😂

He's Japanese and has at least a baseline knowledge of the videogames industry. So his view on the AC Shadows "controversy" is vastly more relevant than the view of anyone in the anti-AC Shadows brigade.

Oh, and he's a legendary game developer who has been involved in great games pretty much every year since 1998. I guess that helps.

But no, let's listen to some random asshole with a YouTube channel. I'm sure they'll have a valuable take. 😄

I was going to say racing games too, but some cars come in black 🤭

He's not wrong you guys. The average Joe gamer just wants to go out and get their game and doesn't care about social media disclosure. Asmongold said it perfectly, "I just need the game to be good" and that's the best way to go about every game.

I think people who exist outside of "normal people every day" massively downplay just how much "normal people" care about of these subtle things. They just don't talk about it because it's not worth it. But when it's time to vote electorally or in the case of products, with their wallets, they show just how much they do care. The reason why it's not worth talking about it is that it's often optically bad and stressful to deal with those who exaggerate everything and turn it into issues of phobias that really aren't there. And that can also land them in trouble at their workplaces. This goes double here in the West, which Kamyia has no real notion of.

One last thing I'll say is yes, there are YouTubers grifters but the ones I follow aren't the kind who report both gaming news and calling out BS is something I will listen to just to get as much info on a game as possible. My favorite YouTuber: Shohei Kondo is an actual Japanese I follow because I enjoy his knowledge of Japan's culture he's been following AC Shadows for a while now and even Ubisoft interviewed him behind the scenes troubling why Shadows development didn't go the way Ubisoft hoped for. But anyway, here's a simple and no, this isn't the American YouTuber grifters coming here claiming they are but when a Japanese does it, are we gonna label oh he's an American YouTuber as well? Some folks don't know how YouTube works.

I agree with him. Mainly because Im willing to bet a large portion of those hating that one of the protagonists of the game are black arent Japanese themselves.

Customers opinions are in fact very relevant since they are the ones buying the game. I'm not sure how many more games need to fail before you activist realize that.

Ill be curious to see the spin from your side when people realize a large portion of the people playing Shadows are doing so on a subscription service that they plan to cancel immediately after.

Concord failed due to horrible character designs. It was probably more then one person who was responsible for it however.