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Take Two warns investors that review bombings can hurt profits
(www.gamefile.news)
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this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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Well it hasn't come out yet, but have you seen how angry some people are about Assassin's Creed Shadows already?
The Last of Us 2 had a pretty infamous review bombing campaign against it based on...I'm not even really clear, to be honest. I know some people were angry that it had a trans woman in it, except that the character they were complaining about was not portrayed as trans.
Or in other media, check the reviews for Star Wars: The Acolyte. Personally I think it's quite a mid show. It's not actually very interesting. I'd rate it maybe 5 or 6/10. But because of the lead characters being an Asian man and a black woman, or maybe because a trans woman has a minor role in a couple of episodes, over 50% of the reviews on IMDB are 1 star, and it's scored 16% on Rotten Tomatoes' audience score.
Well yeah, I totally understand that. Ubisoft picked pretty much the only historical non-Japanese samurai for their main character. So yeah, I'm sure it feels like a slap in the face to fans of Japanese culture to not pick an actual Japanese character as their lead. I don't think the frustration here comes from racism, I think it's just frustration at design choices.
Whether that actually matters depends on how well the game turns out.
I personally probably won't play it because I think AC has become a stupid, pretty money grab. I like stories that end, and they've deliberately moved away from that to continue printing money. So maybe there's some of that baked into that frustration as well (i.e. if you're just going to do a cool historical game, at least make it feel representative to the region and time).
Yes, that was the drama at the time with a bunch of people in the first day or so of launch jumping on it. But the game sold really well and there were plenty of other critical reviews that were from actual players who didn't like how the story went, so it was far from the only negative press. I went into more detail here, complete with links if you feel inclined to give it a read.
It's just a bad show. It's not because of the race of the lead characters, it's because the show is uninspired and boring. That's it. The show kinda sucks, and since it's a popular IP, it gets even harsher treatment due to higher expectations.
It's a dull show. It's not a 1/10 show. Not even close. That's the clear proof that this is about review bombing, not honest feedback.
As for AC: I haven't played it since Revelations, for the same reasons you provide. It went from being an awesome narrative building up to a big climax, to becoming a vehicle for annual releases, like a historical equivalent to FIFA or COD games.
That said...the game has two leads, one of which is Japanese. And she's the one that's actually more "assassin"-like of the two, with Yasuke being more of a direct fighter. Actual Japanese people, when interviewed on the street by one of the haters (in an obvious attempt to get evidence to use for their hate campaign) mostly said "yeah cool, I guess". If Japanese people being prompted by a hater don't even hate it, I fail to see why I should. Or why I should trust that the criticism is actually being made in good faith, rather than as a thin veil for "anti-woke" racism.
Sure, but surely you can see how people overreact when high expectations aren't met. These review numbers are from regular people, the same people who only give 1 or 5 stars on Amazon or whatever. When you see terrible reviews for something from a big name studio, it's because expectations weren't met, not because the content actually sucks.
But you're not the audience, westerners are. And there are a lot of westerners who have very strong opinions about Japanese culture. That's the push-back you're seeing, vocal westerners want an immersive experience in Japanese culture, and I think people are thinking that pulling one of the few non-Japanese characters from Japanese history robs that experience.
But as you said, it's not out yet, so opinions here can certainly change significantly once it's actually out.
I think both are examples of legitimate issues fans have with how a franchise is handled. That may not be relevant to you (esp. if you're an outsider to the franchise), but that also doesn't make it "review bombing." I see "review bombing" as a concerted effort to tank a product due to issues unrelated to the product, such as a scandal involving the higher-ups at a dev studio or something.