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Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows might turn out to be a great game when it launches next month, but its pre-release coverage is anything but good. Besides continuing to be targeted by folks who are convinced that Ubisoft is rewriting history with an African samurai, the game has suffered from a few of the studio’s own missteps. Now, AC Shadows is in the headlines for its association with an Indonesian support studio, where employees allegedly suffered from horrific abuse.
Ubisoft condemns abuse of workers at Assassin’s Creed Shadows support studio
The Indonesian support studio for AC Shadows, where the abuse reportedly happened, is Brandoville. Following its closure last August, a report from People Make Games compiled a series of harrowing events allegedly perpetrated by Brandoville’s leadership.
Some of the said events reportedly included an employee being asked to produce a video of her slapping herself as punishment, and overworking a pregnant employee to such a point that it ultimately resulted in the loss of her child.
“We are deeply disturbed by the recent reports surrounding Brandoville Studios,” Ubisoft has now told Eurogamer in a statement. “We strongly condemn all forms of abuse, and our thoughts are with the affected employees.”
To be clear, what happened at Brandoville isn’t Ubisoft’s fault, but the fact that this report is being shared in conjunction with the studio’s support work on AC Shadows is just not good.
This latest report follows Ubisoft having to pull an AC Shadows statue over an insensitive design and art infringement that saw Ubisoft having to apologize, among a smorgasbord of company-wide issues.
Here’s hoping AC Shadows can avoid another round of negative headlines prior to launch on February 14.