Back to news
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
@Source: pcgamer.com
Skip to main content
PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
Search PC Gamer
View Profile
Movies & TV
Gaming Industry
PC Gaming Show
Newsletter Signup
Community Guidelines
Affiliate Links
Meet the team
About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag
Try a single issue or save on a subscription
Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From£35.99View
Spring Prime Day
Monster Hunter Wilds
Marvel Rivals
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed Shadows
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Harvey Randall
26 March 2025
"Is that what the guy playing your Path of Exile 2 account told you?"
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
Assassin's Creed Shadows has landed some solid success on online storefronts, and an overall decent critical reception. PC Gamer's own Morgan Park gave it an 80 in his review, which is none too shabby.
To celebrate, Ubisoft has gone from avoiding treading on eggshells, to getting its biggest, chunkiest eggshell-stomping boots and marauding through an eggshell field while laughing uproariously, scoring one of the biggest ratios I think I've ever seen on social media.
For context: Ubisoft has found itself in the unenviable position of being caught in the midst of an ongoing culture war over whether videogames are woke or not—woke, generally speaking, meaning anything with the wrong shape of woman woman or a pronoun selection screen or a Black person or a consulting company present during its development. That is to say, it's a word that's lost most of its meaning.
This time, they were bristling over the inclusion of historical Black samurai Yasuke—never mind that over-the-top historical fiction is the series' thing (Leonardo Da Vinci, you'd be surprised to find out, never built a working tank) nor the fact that Yasuke, and characters inspired by him, have both popped up repeatedly in Japanese anime and videogames. My favourite, by far, is Guilty Gear Strive, where his expy is a big vampire man with a skull mask and a banging theme song.
Ubisoft's initial response to this was to try and meet these naysayers halfway. It held up its hands and stated that Yasuke's position in history was "a matter of debate and discussion". Later, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot would also try to reassure folks that the studio wasn't trying to "push any specific agenda".
It wouldn't be until November that the tone would change, with franchise head Marc-Alexis Coté stating: "We all however face the added challenge of distinguishing between genuine feedback and attacks driven by intolerance. The current climate is tough on our creative teams. They face lies, half truths and personal attacks online."
Now that the game is out, though? Ubisoft's gone from stoic but firm rebuttals to publicly clowning on a tech billionaire. Elon Musk, owner of the platform this happened on and self-admitted supporter of Path of Exile 2's account-trading industry, has been particularly vocal about Assassin's Creed Shadows. Writing, in June of last year, that "DEI kills art".
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
He's been particularly vocal in the following X thread, too, coming after a streamer who'd done a paid promotion for the game. "Hasan is a fraud," Musk writes, producing his blade and levelling it at his enemy. "'Sell-out' would be more accurate. Objectively, he is promoting a terrible game just for the money." The official Assassin's Creed account, liberating its own steel free from the prison of its sheath, retorts: "Is that what the guy playing your Path of Exile 2 account told you?"
Both stand at the ready. The setting sun bleeds red into the sky, bearing witness to their duel. Reeds sway in the breeze. Elon Musk and the Assassin's Creed Shadows X account flash towards each other. There's a blinding shock of light. As they stagger from the momentum, Elon Musk's post accrues 23,000 likes—a superficial blow. In true Samurai movie fashion, he then looks down to see the effect of his opponent's strike, as over the next 14 hours the Assassin's Creed Shadows account rakes in upwards of 440,000 likes, nonchalantly sheathing its katana with a satisfying click.
(Image credit: @assassinscreed on X)
To put that in perspective, the Stade de France, which hosted the 2024 Olympics, has a seating capacity of around 80,000 people. The likes on the account's reply could fill up that stadium 5.5 times. The likes on Elon Musk's post wouldn't even book half the seats. 440,000 is a comparable amount, also, to EA's legendarily flubbed Reddit comment, "A sense of pride and accomplishment", which tanked over 600,000 downvotes circa 2017.
The account would then later double down, quoting its own post with the following: "Where other men blindly follow the truth... Remember, nothing is true," a maxim of the series' titular assassin's creed. Even some of the quotes cheering Musk on are taking his lunch money. "$44 billion to get cooked on your own website," writes one spectator, to the tune of 190,000 likes (around 2.3 Stade de Frances).
While I am quietly and respectfully amused by this development, I think the fact that Ubisoft appears to've stopped giving a crap is the takeaway here. Though it's pretty significant that over 440,000 people are also fed up with the outrage tourism, too. The game's out, and as Morgan said in his review, "Is Shadows fun? I'm so glad that one is an easy yes." Nobody—least of all Ubisoft's shareholders—have to wring their hands anymore. As a matter of fact, the gloves seem off entirely.
AC Shadows review: Late bloomer
Best AC Shadows weapons: Superior firepower
Best AC Shadows armour: The best threads
Best AC Shadows skills: Level up
AC Shadows scouts: Get more trusty recons
AC Shadows rations: Get more healing items
AC Shadows Shadow Projects: Free loot
Harvey Randall
Social Links Navigation
Staff Writer
Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Latest in Assassin's Creed
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
Ubisoft says don't compare Assassin's Creed Shadows' success to Valhalla: The latter launched in Covid's 'perfect storm' and feedback on platforms 'less affected by review bombing' is stellar
Assassin's Creed Shadows is a hit and Steam played a 'significant role' in that: 27% of activations were on PC and it's the 2nd-biggest AC launch of all time
Assassin's Creed Shadows streamer goes viral after confronting whining commenters: 'Normal people don't get upset about this sh***'
'This is just the beginning': Assassin's Creed Shadows dev team thanks fans for their support and promises more to come in the future
Latest in News
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
'We're actually getting GeoGuessr on Steam before GTA 6': the Google Street View puzzler arrives on Valve's platform this April
Former music-pirating platform Napster to be reborn rather ironically as a metaverse for musicians to connect with their fans after $207 million deal
Intel is reportedly 'working to finalize commitments from Nvidia' as a foundry partner, suggesting gaming potential for the 18A node
Don't panic! The 'Do Not Send Voice Recordings' option Amazon just removed was only used by 0.03% of customers and they can still have it
More about assassins creed
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
Ubisoft says don't compare Assassin's Creed Shadows' success to Valhalla: The latter launched in Covid's 'perfect storm' and feedback on platforms 'less affected by review bombing' is stellar
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
See more latest
Most Popular
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
'We're actually getting GeoGuessr on Steam before GTA 6': the Google Street View puzzler arrives on Valve's platform this April
Former music-pirating platform Napster to be reborn rather ironically as a metaverse for musicians to connect with their fans after $207 million deal
Don't panic! The 'Do Not Send Voice Recordings' option Amazon just removed was only used by 0.03% of customers and they can still have it
Intel is reportedly 'working to finalize commitments from Nvidia' as a foundry partner, suggesting gaming potential for the 18A node
Hmmm, upgrades: Nvidia App gets an optional AI assistant and custom DLSS resolution scaling
Now I shall demand the cookies! Proposed new browsing agreement turns the tables and lets users dictate terms to websites
Former Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger becomes executive chairman of a 'Technology Platform Connecting the Faith Ecosystem' to work on Christian AI using DeepSeek
Today's Wordle answer for Wednesday, March 26
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES
LATEST GAME REVIEWS
Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
Best graphics card for laptops in 2025: the mobile GPUs I'd want in my next gaming laptop
Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
Best 14-inch gaming laptop in 2025: The top compact gaming laptops I've held in these hands
Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I've tested
Thunder X3 Lab-X review
The First Berserker: Khazan review
Logitech G PowerPlay 2 mouse pad review
Colorful iGame RTX 5070 Ti Vulcan OC review
Atomfall review
PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
Contact Future's experts
Terms and conditions
Privacy policy
Cookies policy
Advertise with us
Accessibility Statement
Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury,
BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.
Please login or signup to comment
Please wait...
Related News
03 Mar, 2025
Former LIV golfer Laurie Canter qualifie . . .
17 Mar, 2025
Coronation Street star Claire Sweeney gu . . .
12 Mar, 2025
Jordan Chiles continues to fight for her . . .
17 Feb, 2025
Cher, Madonna, and Anya Taylor-Joy bring . . .
22 Mar, 2025
Kitty Dukakis dies at 88
18 Mar, 2025
Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey e . . .
14 Mar, 2025
Anitta Opens Up in New Single “Larissa” . . .
24 Mar, 2025
Giant MTB