{"id":1003790,"date":"2026-01-09T23:16:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T23:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=466169"},"modified":"2026-01-09T23:16:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T23:16:24","slug":"assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A statue made for the release of Ubisoft\u2019s Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows<\/a><\/em> won\u2019t see the light of day, after its maker received criticism for its design. Statue maker PureArts apologized on Tuesday for what it called an \u201cinsensitive design,\u201d and said it\u2019s reworking the collectible based on the game\u2019s dual protagonists Yasuke and Naoe.<\/p>\n

Pure Arts revealed its Yasuke and Naoe statue<\/a>, part of the collectible maker\u2019s Qlectors line, in September. The stylized statue features cartoonish versions of Shadows<\/em>\u2019 samurai and shinobi, with the latter leaping from a broken, one-legged torii gate. The statue\u2019s broken torii gate was strongly criticized by some Japanese commenters, who said that the design hewed too closely to the Sann\u014d Shrine<\/a> in Nagasaki, which was half-destroyed by the United States\u2019 atomic bombing of the city in 1945.<\/p>\n

In response to that criticism, Pure Arts issued an apology on X<\/a> (formerly Twitter):<\/p>\n

\n

We recently released an insensitive design. We appreciate and have learned from the concerns brought to our attention, and we apologize for the harm this caused. After reading and processing the feedback, we have immediately returned to the drawing board and are currently reworking the design of the Qlectors Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows Yasuke & Naoe. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pure Arts plans to release other Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows<\/em> products as part of its partnership with Ubisoft: 1:1 scale replicas of Naoe\u2019s hidden blade<\/a> ($89) and Yasuke\u2019s samurai helmet<\/a> ($749).<\/p>\n

Ubisoft announced Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows<\/em> in May<\/a>, and the game quickly became a lightning rod for controversy over its depiction of Japanese history and its playable leads: Yasuke, a Black samurai, and Naoe, a Japanese shinobi. In July, Ubisoft developers addressed complaints<\/a> over the game\u2019s creative choices and marketing. In a statement to \u201cour Japanese players,\u201d Ubisoft said at the time, \u201cWe acknowledge that some elements in our promotional materials have caused concern within the Japanese community. For this, we sincerely apologize.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September, reeling from underperforming sales of and technical issues with Star Wars Outlaws<\/em>, Ubisoft announced it had delayed Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows<\/em><\/a> to 2025. The game and Pure Arts\u2019 Qlectors statue of Yasuke and Naoe were originally planned to arrive in November.<\/p>\n

Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows<\/em> is now slated for release on Feb. 14, 2025<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A statue made for the release of Ubisoft\u2019s Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows won\u2019t see the light of day, after its maker received criticism for its design. Statue maker PureArts apologized on Tuesday for what it called an \u201cinsensitive design,\u201d and said it\u2019s reworking the collectible based on the game\u2019s dual protagonists Yasuke and Naoe. Pure Arts revealed its Yasuke and Naoe statue, part of the collectible maker\u2019s Qlectors line, in September. The stylized statue features cartoonish versions of Shadows\u2019 samurai and shinobi, with the latter leaping from a broken, one-legged torii gate. The statue\u2019s broken torii gate was strongly criticized by some Japanese commenters, who said that the design hewed too closely to the Sann\u014d Shrine in Nagasaki, which was half-destroyed by the United States\u2019 atomic…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1003791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1003790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nAssassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019 | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A statue made for the release of Ubisoft\u2019s Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows won\u2019t see the light of day, after its maker received criticism for its design. Statue\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019 | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A statue made for the release of Ubisoft\u2019s Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows won\u2019t see the light of day, after its maker received criticism for its design. Statue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-09T23:16:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-09T23:16:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":386,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Polygon\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/\",\"name\":\"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019 | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-09T23:16:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"A statue made for the release of Ubisoft\u2019s Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows won\u2019t see the light of day, after its maker received criticism for its design. Statue\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":320,\"caption\":\"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019 | Arcader News","description":"A statue made for the release of Ubisoft\u2019s Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows won\u2019t see the light of day, after its maker received criticism for its design. Statue","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019 | Arcader News","og_description":"A statue made for the release of Ubisoft\u2019s Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows won\u2019t see the light of day, after its maker received criticism for its design. Statue","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-01-09T23:16:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":320,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019","datePublished":"2026-01-09T23:16:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/"},"wordCount":386,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design.jpg","articleSection":["Polygon"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/","name":"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019 | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-09T23:16:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"A statue made for the release of Ubisoft\u2019s Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows won\u2019t see the light of day, after its maker received criticism for its design. Statue","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design.jpg","width":480,"height":320,"caption":"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/assassins-creed-shadows-statue-pulled-over-insensitive-design\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows statue pulled over \u2018insensitive design\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1456102,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003790\/revisions\/1456102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1003791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}