Ubisoft Reportedly Axed an Assassin’s Creed Game About a Formerly Enslaved Black Assassin

Reports have surfaced that Ubisoft quietly shut down an Assassin’s Creed project set during the Reconstruction era in the United States, one that would have featured a formerly enslaved Black man as the main character.

According to Game File, five current and former Ubisoft employees revealed that the game was in development but was canceled last year.

They spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they weren’t authorized to talk about the project. Ubisoft reportedly never commented publicly about the game’s existence or its cancellation.

The untitled Assassin’s Creed entry was planned to take place after the American Civil War, exploring the years of rebuilding that followed.

Players would have stepped into the shoes of a man who escaped slavery in the South, moved west to start over, and was later recruited by the Assassins. The story would have followed him back into the South, where he’d confront oppression, violence, and the growing power of the Ku Klux Klan.

One Ubisoft source described the decision behind the cancellation as “too political in a country too unstable.” Several employees told Game File they believed the project was dropped because leadership feared potential controversy.

According to those familiar with the situation, Ubisoft’s Paris headquarters made the call to cancel the game for two main reasons.

First, the company faced backlash earlier that year over Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which featured Yasuke, a real-life Black samurai, as one of the main characters. Second, management was reportedly concerned that setting a story about race and justice in post–Civil War America could spark heated political reactions.

While game cancellations happen often in big studios, insiders said this one stood out because of why it was canceled. Many within Ubisoft were reportedly disappointed, believing the project had strong creative potential and could have offered a powerful new chapter in the series.

Interestingly, the controversy came despite Ubisoft celebrating the success of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which launched later that year. The company said the game surpassed one million players on release day and more than five million by July. Ubisoft even claimed Shadows had some of the highest sales numbers in the franchise’s history.

However, independent data painted a more complicated picture. Analysts like Rhys Elliott from Alinea Analytics suggested that a significant portion of Shadows’ early player count came from subscription services, not direct sales.

Despite the mixed reception, Ubisoft’s decision to cancel the Reconstruction-era Assassin’s Creed appears to have been influenced less by the studio’s performance record and more by concerns over public reaction.

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