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Ubisoft has reportedly canceled a planned Assassin’s Creed game set during and after the American Civil War, with sources citing fears of political controversy as the main reason behind the decision.
According to reports, the canceled Assassin’s Creed project was in early development and internally regarded as one of the franchise’s most ambitious titles before being shelved by Ubisoft’s leadership in mid-2024.
The proposed storyline reportedly centered on a formerly enslaved Black man from the American South who, after gaining his freedom, moved west to start anew before being recruited by the Assassins. He would later return south during the Reconstruction era to fight for justice against the Ku Klux Klan and other oppressive groups.
Sources familiar with the matter claimed that Ubisoft’s Paris headquarters decided to halt the Assassin’s Creed American Civil War project following two major concerns. The first was the backlash surrounding Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which features Yasuke, a Black samurai, as one of its main characters. The second was the fear that the new game could be seen as “too political” given the current social climate in the United States.
GameFile quoted insiders saying, “Too political in a country too unstable, to make it short.” While canceling early-stage projects is uncommon for major studios like Ubisoft, former developers noted that the decision reflects growing caution in handling politically sensitive themes.
Ubisoft has not yet issued an official statement on the reported cancellation or indicated whether the Assassin’s Creed American Civil War concept could be revived in the future. If completed, it would have been among the series’ most socially charged and modern narratives to date.
