Ubisoft has (at least a semblance of) a tradition of taking on such complex topics in modern contexts as well, such as with Far Cry 2, which drops the player into a war-torn amalgam of several African nations including, but not limited to, South Sudan. For example, the much-maligned Assassin’s Creed 3 addressed head-on the ideas of colonialism, the “white-man’s burden” of civilizing native peoples, and cultural annihilation. Ubisoft, however, has a reputation for taking on complicated topics and presenting them in interesting, thought-provoking ways in interesting historical contexts.
These are heady, complex issues normally reserved for the lofty halls of academia. To understand my argument, it must be taken as a given that the below image raises issues of racial prejudice and subjugation, cultural and religious annihilation, and colonial oppression. In this piece, I want to break down how not only the popular reaction was wrong, but that, ultimately, it sets us all back as gamers. It was largely negative for the wrong reasons. The predictable, unfortunate and overwhelming reaction to the image, which I’ve included below, was negative. The actual misstep was Ubisoft seeking to treat us all like adults. The perceived misstep by the Ubisoft marketing team was, of course, the box art for the forthcoming game.