The Assassin's Creed Twitter (sorry, still not calling it X) just clapped back at Elon Musk. And you know what? It's about time developers fought back against the incessant toxicity thrown their way.
There's been a barrage of controversies surrounding Assassin's Creed Shadows. A game that, right from the start, a portion of the online gaming community deemed to be an "offensive" representation of the Japanese culture. They wanted it to fail, despite clearly being a vocal minority facing the reality everyone not terminally online knew was going to occur: an AC game set in feudal Japan would be a massive success for the company.
Amid this hostile environment, Elon Musk decided to chime in. The billionaire who somehow manages to ruin everything he touches felt the need to call streamer Hasanabi for doing the cardinal sin of accepting a sponsorship to play a videogame. An "objectively" bad one, according to the guy who gets boosted in Path of Exile, as Ubisoft kindly reminded him.
You may like or dislike AC Shadows. I believe you don't even have to justify your hate for it. You think DEI ruined it? Go for it. Are you suddenly preoccupied with the "lack" of historical accuracy in a franchise in which Ezio Auditore, a fictional character, fist-fights and kills a pope? Be my guest. Just keep it to yourself if you won't approach a conversation around those topics nuancedly.
Truth be told, I don't even like the franchise that much, outside of a couple of games that scratch the itch of open-world slop. But I do feel we've reached a boiling point, and what all these anonymous shade-throwing trolls online who consistently put down the work of developers, taking their hatred to sociopathic personal levels, need to understand is that there are actual people on the other side of the screen. They read, for better or worse, most of the comments and reactions thrown their way.
Look past the corporate, all-encompassing being that is Ubisoft and ask yourself if it's worth being part of a very aggressive vocal minority that continuously fuels this never-ending cycle of hostility. Maybe just close Twitter, boot up a game you like, and enjoy it.
click to enlargeIf you want to engage in bad faith, developers should also be allowed to stand their ground without being vilified by dozens of people saying they are acting unprofessionally. I'm not saying they are immune to criticism. We, as consumers, are allowed to voice valid complaints if we're spending our hard-earned cash on this hobby we adore. It's not cheap, and yes, plenty of higher-ups are ruining things in their endless pursuit of better ROI to please stakeholders. I'd go as far as saying Shadows has plenty to criticize in that regard.
Let's not pretend the majority of criticism against AC Shadows comes from a place of goodwill. Most of it stems from users who never intended to purchase the game, as they found a very low-hanging fruit to target. They're even turning their back on legendary developer Hideki Kamiya, who showed support for Ubisoft and Assassin's Creed Shadows.
The fact that Ubisoft even felt the need to prepare an "anti-harassment" plan to protect the AC Shadows developers is frankly tragic. If you're one of those constantly harassing developers via the corporate and their personal accounts, maybe just take a step back and analyze if there are better ways of channeling your frustration.
I know I'm talking into the void here, but let's reconsider what type of energy we put on social media, shall we? If we throw hate directly at a poor social media manager, at least allow them to fight back.
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