Ubisoft reportedly cancelled an Assassin’s Creed game set during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era, citing fears it was “too political” amid rising tensions in the United States.
Ubisoft reportedly cancelled an Assassin’s Creed game set after the American Civil War after several years in early development.
According to Game File’s Stephen Totilo, the untitled project was in early development and would have followed a formerly enslaved Black man who, after moving west to start a new life, is recruited by the Assassins and returns to the South to fight for justice.
The game’s narrative reportedly would have seen him confront the rise of the Ku Klux Klan amid the social upheaval of the 1860s and 1870s.
Sources described the project as one of Ubisoft’s “most ambitious modern settings” for the series, exploring themes of freedom, identity, and rebuilding after war.
However, development was reportedly halted in July 2024 after management in Paris decided to cancel it.
Three sources told Game File that Ubisoft’s decision was influenced by two factors, those being online backlash to the reveal of Yasuke – a Black samurai protagonist in Assassin’s Creed Shadows – and fears that “the political climate in the United States was becoming increasingly tense.”
One source summarised the decision as: “Too political in a country too unstable, to make it short.”
While game cancellations at Ubisoft are not uncommon, employees expressed disappointment, viewing the decision as a missed opportunity for Assassin’s Creed to tell one of its most bold and socially resonant stories yet.
Assassin’s Creed game ‘set in the Civil War era was cancelled’
