Assassin's Creed Shadows statue pulled, as company behind it acknowledges "insensitive design"
"We have immediately returned to the drawing board."
The maker of an Assassin's Creed Shadows statue has said it will now rework the model's design, after describing its appearance as "insensitive".
In a statement released via social media yesterday, model company Purearts said it had "immediately returned to the drawing board" to rework its collectible statuette that featured Assassin's Creed Shadows main characters Yasuke and Naoe, following "concerns" raised by some fans.
So, what's the issue? Well, Purearts' original design included a broken torii gate, similar to one found in Nagasaki that broke amidst the city's 1945 atomic bomb blast. Nagasaki's "one-legged torii", at the city's rebuilt Sannō Shrine, has been preserved as a reminder of the city's devastation.
Customers who pre-ordered the model will be contacted soon with more information on their purchase, Purearts said.
Responses to Purearts' statement are mixed, with some suggesting the company should have been more aware of the design's significance before it went into production. Others suggest this is yet another example of Assassin's Creed Shadows being embroiled in controversy by online commentators keen to highlight problems.
Certainly, Assassin's Creed Shadows has had a bumpy road to release.
A recurring backlash to Yasuke's presence and role in Shadows caught the attention of Elon Musk earlier this year, while there were gripes over historical inaccuracies in concept art set for a release in a collector's art book. In July, Ubisoft issued an apology for elements in the game's marketing campaign that had "caused concern" among some Japanese fans.
Last month, as Shadows was delayed to 2025 following poor sales of Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot raised eyebrows for saying that his company was focused on "creating games for the broadest possible audience, and our goal is not to push any specific agenda".
"Of course we're making creative choices, it's a video game," Assassin's Creed Shadows art director and franchise veteran Thierry Dansereau told Eurogamer back in August, adding that he was confident with how the game would ultimately be received.