Despite all the discourse, Assassin's Creed Shadows has had a relatively successful launch. The latest entry in the series sits only below Valhalla, with a player count of around 2.2 million. While some made a noise about Yasuke's origins, Japanese players, reviewers, and developers have no problem with Shadows.
Assassin's Creed Shadows already feels halfway to being a co-op game as is.
While the faux-outrage is done and dusted, there was an issue around the fact that shrines in Assassin's Creed Shadows could be destroyed. It seems the devs included the shrines' inner sanctum when designing the destructible environments of the game. This caused officials of the Itate Hyozu Shrine to take legal action, after which the feature was removed from the game in the day-one patch. While this issue is also resolved now, Naoe actor Masumi reflected upon it after the game's launch.
In an interview with Insider Gaming at the BAFTA Games Awards in London, Masumi spoke about this feature and its implications.
For me, as a Japanese Naoe, I’m satisfied with my job, with what I was able to portray.
As Japanese, we grow up with the whole shrine, sacred mirrors, all of that...
