Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot has discussed last year's intense backlash to Assassin's Creed Shadows, and said the unexpected conversation shift "from gameplay to ideology" led directly to its high-profile delay.

Speaking during a recent event at Paris Games Week, as reported by GameFile, Guillemot screened a short internal video Ubisoft had created to narrate its response to the backlash surrounding Shadows' Black samurai co-protagonist Yasuke — which even saw Tesla and X boss Elon Musk getting involved.

Guillemot has now stated that the level of vitriol required Ubisoft to rethink its plans for Shadows — back then, set for launch in November 2024. Ultimately, the company elected to delay the game until March 2025, a decision explained last year as necessary to "polish" the game further. But, behind the scenes, Guillemot says the firm understood it needed to bolster fan sentiment to ensure the game launched to a more positive response.

With more time to improve the game, Ubisoft gave itself the opportunity to share more with fans pre-launch, Guillemot said, something the company hoped would both impress long-term Assassin's Creed aficionados, and move the conversation around Shadows on.

"What we saw is that, by allowing our fans to see in the game — everything they were going to be able to rediscover — of what they love about Assassin's Creed, [that] ultimately helped to combat this aggression, which is linked to the fact that video games have a very strong impact on the people who play them," Guillemot said. "They’re kind of caught between 'I want to play, and what interests me is self-expression within a game' and 'there is a cultural message that comes with the video game.'

"So our goal is really to be able to ensure that our fans discover and defend what they expect from our games," Guillemot continued. "It very quickly eliminated the fights, which were just fake fights."

In an internal video, also shown last week, Ubisoft described its response as a successful turnaround of public opinion on a game featuring a pre-launch crisis.

"What happens when a legendary franchise reveals one of its most anticipated experiences," the video begins, "only to become the game everyone loves to hate? When conversation shifts from gameplay to ideology? When everything you say only adds fuel to the fire?

"In September 2024, we had our backs against the wall, and that's when it clicked," the video continues. "To get out of the corner, we had to stop focusing on those who hated us. We had to start firing up our allies. So we stopped trying to win the argument, and leaned on what had carried us for 18 years: The Assassin's Creed brand.

"We started by doing the last thing anyone would have advised. We delayed the game. The extra time allowed the devs to polish, optimize, and reach the high standards fans expect from an Assassin's Creed game.

"It also gave us time to rebuild the Assassin’s Creed brand pact, putting the markers of the franchise back at the center. More hood, more stealth, more leap of faith, more lore. So we could show that the spirit of Assassin’s Creed lives on in Shadows.

"Instead of fearing leaks, we showed the game," Ubisoft concluded. "Fans came back, conversations started shifting, and everyone who built, played, and loved this game could be proud again."

The framing of the delay as a positive response to the game's backlash is an interesting one, though one which feels limited considering what we already know from other reports detailing events at the time.

In October last year, Insider Gaming reported that the game's delay had been widely expected within the company "and desperately needed" to address feedback from playtests and mock reviews (a standard industry practice where external consultants size-up projects before copies are given to press).

Speaking in December last year, former Assassin's Creed franchise boss Marc-Alexis Coté suggested similar, saying that the game's delay was necessary to change the "narrative" of Ubisoft's "inconsistency in quality" (just months after the company's fellow blockbuster Star Wars Outlaws underperformed).

And, perhaps most notably, there's no mention here by Guillemot of the fact that Ubisoft's plans to delay Shadows came alongside a decision to reportedly cancel a separate Assassin's Creed game set in post-Civil War America — a project that would have featured a former slave as its main character. While still in pre-production, the game's fate was apparently sealed after Ubisoft judged the idea too risky to continue amid the current U.S. political landscape — and, to a lesser extent, after having seen the Yasuke backlash.

Assassin's Creed Shadows has gone on to sell "in line with expectations," Ubisoft said in July, with 5 million copies sold so far.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social