'Our goal is not to push any specific agenda': Ubisoft CEO tries to mollify gamers who won't stop being mad about a Black samurai in Assassin's Creed Shadows

Assassin's Creed Shadows is one of the most anticipated games of the year, but it's also been controversial among some groups of gamers due to its inclusion of Yasuke, a Black samurai. In today's surprise announcement of an Assassin's Creed Shadows delay, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot addressed those «polarized comments,» as he put it, saying Ubisoft's games are not meant to reflect any specific agenda.

«I want to reaffirm that we are an entertainment-first company, creating games for the broadest possible audience, and our goal is not to push any specific agenda,» Guillemot said in today's financial update. «We remain committed to creating games for fans and players that everyone can enjoy.»

It's quite a change in tone from Guillemot's words in June, when he called out "malicious and personal online attacks" directed at Ubisoft employees at partners. 

«I want to make it clear that we, at Ubisoft, condemn these hateful acts in the strongest possible terms, and I encourage the rest of the industry and players to denounce them, too,» Guillemot said at the time. «I am proud to support the amazing work of our teams and partners, and I will always trust in their creative choices.»

By contrast, today's statement is unhelpful at best and frankly I think it borders on outright cowardice. The backlash against Assassin's Creed Shadows has been fierce but also emerges from a very narrow slice of the gaming community, a group that is very agenda-driven: It makes zero justifiable sense that traveling through the magic of the Animus to waste the Pope or do a solid for George Washington is normal videogame business, yet a Black samurai—based on a historical figure, like so many others in the series—is beyond the pale. There's no mollifying this disingenuous crowd with hollow statements that it's fun and games, and we should all just get along.

The most vocal contingent of Yasuke critics want nothing less than the outright removal of the character from the game, to be replaced with an