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Assassin's Creed Shadows has had a fantastic start, but in the build-up to its release and beyond, it's been surrounded by discourse and controversy. It's against that backdrop that Baldur's Gate 3's publishing director has issued a well-timed reminder that although it's understandable to not like a game sometimes, you shouldn't hate things "just because some dude told you to."
"I understand not liking a game. I understand hating a game. I understand hating a game cuz you feel it stands against everything you believe in – but I don't understand hating things just because some dude told you to," Michael Douse writes. "Don't let people monetize your passion. Be your own dude!"
Douse says he respects "negative energy" like anger but wants people to "make sure it's your own, and make sure you harness that energy into something positive and meaningful. There's nothing wrong with demanding more, but do it on your own terms, not for somebody else."
He makes a very good point that can be applied to many things – it's always important to form your opinion rather than just going along with what others say. Things can quickly get out of hand otherwise. One of the most prevalent topics of discourse surrounding Shadows relates to one of the RPG's two protagonists, Yasuke. While Yasuke was, in real life, a Black samurai who served under Oda Nobunaga, some have debated the historical accuracy of his identity and questioned why he's included in Shadows, to the point that the series' executive producer, Marc-Alexis Côté, previously spoke out against "attacks driven by intolerance" against the game's teams while stating that "Yasuke's presence in Japanese history is fact," too.
Back to Douse's thread, Larian's publishing director also responds to one user saying that "AC Shadows is not even bad," pointing to people "talking without even playing it." Douse explains that "there's a giant conflation happening because the Big Product Market *is* failing to resonate with the masses, but the economics of games and scale don't properly allow mass market resonance to coexist with the integrity of high level creative ownership." Essentially, he continues, while "every big AAA game could be better," this introduces a certain amount of risk that can complicate financial investment. "The fear of alienating the masses is far higher than the fear of alienating the core," he adds.
There's a giant conflation happening because the Big Product Market *is* failing to resonate with the masses, but the economics of games & scale don't properly allow mass market resonance to coexist with the integrity of high level creative ownership. This isn't a problem with…March 25, 2025
Douse acknowledges that this is "a paradox," and also "the reason most AAA games land in the 70s and 80s" when it comes to their average scores. This doesn't mean "developers deserve hatred," he adds, noting: "It is pure economics and nothing more." He sums up the situation noting that the "entire conversation is danced around as political or cultural but it's wholly the balance of economics and artistic integrity; the most violent tight-rope in entertainment business."
In Shadows' case, while it's not been able to escape the "noise online" from some, it seems that Ubisoft is overall pleased with how the launch has gone, having recently thanked fans for their support and saying that "the reception has been nothing but heartwarming for the team."
We had a lot of positive things to say about Ubisoft's latest RPG in our Assassin's Creed Shadows review, and it's also now sitting high up our list of the best Assassin's Creed games.
