Ubisoft has cancelled a planned Assassin’s Creed game that would have followed a former slave battling the Ku Klux Klan in post-Civil War America, amid concerns that the current political climate in the United States is “too unstable”, according to reports.
Journalist Stephen Totilo’s Game File reports that the scrapped project was set during the Reconstruction era, the turbulent period between 1865 and 1877 following the American Civil War. The unnamed protagonist would have been recruited by the Assassins to fight against the rise of the Ku Klux Klan “among other things,” blending the franchise’s historical storytelling with one of the most politically charged moments in US history.
Developers familiar with the project told Game File that upper management in Ubisoft’s Paris headquarters pulled the plug on the game last year, citing fears over potential backlash and political controversy.
“Too political in a country too unstable, to make it short,” one source said. Another developer expressed disappointment, adding, “I was terribly disappointed but not surprised by leadership. They are making more and more decisions to maintain the political status quo and take no stand, no risk, even creative.”
The reported decision comes after the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which faced criticism before launch for featuring Yasuke, a Black samurai based on a real historical figure, as one of its two playable protagonists. Despite the initial backlash, much of it centering on Yasuke’s race and supposed “historical inaccuracy” , the game went on to perform strongly, both critically and commercially.
Some within Ubisoft reportedly believe the controversy surrounding Shadows made executives hesitant to greenlight another politically sensitive story. Management allegedly grew concerned that setting a game around racial violence and the KKK could provoke outrage in today’s polarized environment.
Ubisoft has long maintained that its games are “not political,” despite tackling themes of war, revolution, religion, and social control in franchises like Tom Clancy’s The Division and Far Cry. The company has been repeatedly criticised for avoiding clear political commentary even when its games are steeped in political history.
Historically, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has not shied away from exploring slavery and racial oppression. Spin-offs like Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation featured Aveline de Grandpré, a mixed-race female assassin fighting against the injustices of 18th-century Louisiana, while Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry followed Adéwalé, a former slave who becomes an assassin and fights to dismantle the slave trade in the Caribbean.
The cancellation of the Reconstruction-era title suggests a shift in Ubisoft’s risk appetite, as the company continues to struggle financially and faces mounting pressure to avoid controversy.
Industry observers note the irony that Assassin’s Creed Shadows ultimately succeeded despite, or perhaps because of, its bold creative direction. The episode reinforces what many developers have long argued: that loud online outrage often represents a vocal minority, not the broader gaming audience.
As one industry analyst told GameCentral, “It’s sad to see a major publisher shy away from meaningful storytelling out of fear of backlash that, in practice, rarely translates into real-world consequences.”
Ubisoft has not officially commented on the reported cancellation.
