No, Japan as a nation does not hate Shadows

[The Former]

Selective sampling. It's what happens when we want to prove something, so we only pull data that coincides with what we want to be true. Lately, people have been circulating three main things from Youtube regarding Japan's reaction to this game:

1. Official Japanese trailer got ratioed on "Japanese youtube". Problem: This video is readily available to people from any country. "Japanese youtube" is just Youtube. Type アサシン クリード シャドウズ into your Youtube search bar in any country, scroll down a bit, and you'll find the trailer in seconds. This does not prove Japan hates the game on its own.

2. Some videos from a Youtuber named Shohei Kondo. Problem: Shohei Kondo is an English-language Japanese Youtuber. He is Japanese, but his audience is Western and a Western audience wants to consume hate media for this game right now. At best, this proves one Japanese man hates the game.

3. The Japanese government's complaints. Problem: These are overblown; they amount to one nationalist representative raising an issue about destroying shrines in the game, and the Prime Minister responding to him. It's one short clip from a long session, highlighted again and again with titles like "Assassin's Creed Shadows DESTROYED by Japan Prime Minister!" when all he actually said was that it's important to protect shrines from vandalism in real life.

The other side of the coin...

Japanese preorder activity was huge for Shadows.

(Source)[tech4gamers.com] Not only was the game #2 on the Playstation Store in Japan shortly before launch, it was #1 on Amazon Japan on May 20. The controversies were well known and the trailer was already ratioed at this time. By the way, as of now, still Amazon's #2 on Xbox.[www.amazon.co.jp]

Japanese reviewers give it glowing praise.

(Source)[www.polygon.com] Now this one needs to be taken with a grain of salt, because Japanese media is just as susceptible as Western media to being tilted by developers. And yes, it comes from Polygon, which I know isn't the best source for anything, but it's this or making you translate a bunch of Japanese websites. Look at the content of the article; the publications and their quotes. That's what matters here, ignore the Polygon fluff.

Glowing PSN score.

(Source)[store.playstation.com] Playstation Store reviews are worldwide, but Japan was number nine in the world[finance.yahoo.com] in PS5 purchases in the July of 2023, surpassing the US. Playstation's birthplace and home are Japan, and a huge number of Japanese gamers play on it. If the game was widely preordered there, you'd think the worldwide reviews would reflect an angry player base. Veilguard's were pretty bad[store.playstation.com] which tells us the reviews aren't cooked on PSN.

Japanese engagement on Youtube simply isn't a lot.

(Source) The Atelier franchise is one of Japan's longest-running, and is widely beloved. Recently, Atelier Yumiya, the latest offering, dropped onto the market. March 21st, in fact! Yet we see similar numbers like... 22k views, 84 likes... 89k views, 666 likes... 49k views, 613 likes... Japanese people simply aren't on Youtube like the west is. Statistics[worldpopulationreview.com] show 78 million users, compared to America's 239 million. That's about 63% of the country, compared to 70%, and most of the interaction in Japan revolves around music. This Japanese language Ado video I pulled out of a hat got 75k views and 7.5k likes. That's considerably more interaction than Atelier Yumiya, a new release from a widely beloved franchise.

Youtube is not how Japanese popularity is measured.

Famitsu polls game sales every week and puts out rankings. Their last week of polling cut off right at March 21, so we won't be able to say with any kind of certainty until next week. If it makes Famitsu's top 30 (not especially common for 洋ゲー), we'll know for certain it's not a hated game. If it doesn't, we'll still wonder, but with all this contrary data, I think it's safe to say at the very least...

Conclusion

STOP SPEAKING FOR ENTIRE NATIONS USING ONE OR TWO VOICES. I can find plenty of Americans right here on Steam who hate the game, and yet user reviews rest comfortably at 81%, PSN user reviews (where there's no Ubisoft+ and third party keys aren't supported, so people actually dropped $70 for the game) are extremely positive. Five power tripping Youtubers do not a consensus make. So too, one English language Youtuber and one trailer with low interaction do not a consensus make. Japan may love the game or may not, but we won't know for sure until more comprehensive market data is available.

UPDATE: Famitsu launch numbers

(Source)[www.gematsu.com] Shadows has landed the number five spot this week according to Famitsu's numbers. 17.7k first week sales doesn't prove the game is a smash hit or anything, but 洋ゲー breaking into the top 30 isn't a guaranteed thing, let alone the top 5. I honestly expected low 20's at best.

So no, it doesn't prove Japan loves the game, but I'd say it does prove they don't hate it.

[Mr_Fear1911]

All sources are from main streams, which already bought by Ubisoft. They doesn't have any value as evidences

[The Former]

Updated with Famitsu sales figures, which seem to show that while it's not everyone's must-have, it's also not hated.

[Deathscare]

Messaggio originale di The Former:

Updated with Famitsu sales figures, which seem to show that while it's not everyone's must-have, it's also not hated.

Because you know so many japanese gamers right?

[The Former]

Messaggio originale di Deathscare:

Messaggio originale di The Former:

Updated with Famitsu sales figures, which seem to show that while it's not everyone's must-have, it's also not hated.

Because you know so many japanese gamers right?

Famitsu figures are taken from nationwide sales. It has nothing to do with knowing anyone, it's objectively selling number five of all games in Japan over this past week.

[Tiasmoon]

Messaggio originale di The Former:

Famitsu figures are taken from nationwide sales. It has nothing to do with knowing anyone, it's objectively selling number five of all games in Japan over this past week.

Ranking doesnt matter. Number of sales is what matters. A game could be number 3 in a dead weak and sell only 5k copies.

Also worth noting that its not number 5 of all games, its number 4 as there's 2 different versions of the same game (Atelier Yumia) above it. Yes, both Yumia's Switch and PS5 versions outsold AC Shadows.

Messaggio originale di The Former:

Updated with Famitsu sales figures, which seem to show that while it's not everyone's must-have, it's also not hated.

Funny how it went from ''it sold really well'' to ''its not everyone's must have''.

17k is very bad for a big AAA title. Its not even good for (much) more low budget games like the Atelier games. And Atelier Yumia (again, a much lower budget games) sold about 4x copies between its different versions.

So AC Shadows is objectively selling poorly in Japan.

[JKDos]

GTA: *Burn, loot, murder.*
Americans: This is the coolest thing ever.

Shadows: *destroy props*
Americans: THAT'S RACIST!!!!!!!!

[Butcher]

Messaggio originale di JKDos:

GTA: *Burn, loot, murder.*
Americans: This is the coolest thing ever.

Shadows: *destroy props*
Americans: THAT'S RACIST!!!!!!!!

Japanese petition got over 100k signatures:
https://www.change.org/p/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%B5%E3%82%B7%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%89%E3%82%A6%E3%82%BA%E3%81%AE%E7%99%BA%E5%A3%B2%E4%B8%AD%E6%AD%A2%E3%82%92%E6%B1%82%E3%82%81%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99

[[JRE] Joe Rogan]

If you want to argue with a bunch of Europeans who are speaking on behalf of a countrys population that barely knows of this games exisistence yet alone would care, this is the thread for you!

[JKDos]

Messaggio originale di Butcher:

Messaggio originale di JKDos:

GTA: *Burn, loot, murder.*
Americans: This is the coolest thing ever.

Shadows: *destroy props*
Americans: THAT'S RACIST!!!!!!!!

Japanese petition got over 100k signatures:
https://www.change.org/p/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%B5%E3%82%B7%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%89%E3%82%A6%E3%82%BA%E3%81%AE%E7%99%BA%E5%A3%B2%E4%B8%AD%E6%AD%A2%E3%82%92%E6%B1%82%E3%82%81%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99

How many americans signed that petition?

[a passerby]

Messaggio originale di The Former:

1. Official Japanese trailer got ratioed on "Japanese youtube". Problem: This video is readily available to people from any country. "Japanese youtube" is just Youtube. Type アサシン クリード シャドウズ into your Youtube search bar in any country, scroll down a bit, and you'll find the trailer in seconds. This does not prove Japan hates the game on its own.

There are a few things wrong with this. Youtube videos can be region restricted, and the YouTube algorithm recommends videos based on regions. The idea that there is a large enough number of "haters" who would go through the trouble of searching up the Japanese title to dislike Japanese AC videos is too fantastical.

Another problem with this is you are ignoring the comments section. Google translate doesn't do a good job of translating English to Japanese, and the Japanese are generally very quick to point this out. Literally every YouTube video with 『アサクリシャドウズ』has comments that are overwhelmingly negative. So overwhelmingly negative to the point where I've failed to even identify a single positive Japanese comment.

So unless you're claiming people from around the world are 1) searching up the Japanese title 2) spamming comments in native Japanese, it is very clear that the general consensus on AC Shadows in Japan is negative.

[Butcher]

Messaggio originale di JKDos:

Messaggio originale di Butcher:

Japanese petition got over 100k signatures:
https://www.change.org/p/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%B5%E3%82%B7%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%89%E3%82%A6%E3%82%BA%E3%81%AE%E7%99%BA%E5%A3%B2%E4%B8%AD%E6%AD%A2%E3%82%92%E6%B1%82%E3%82%81%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99

How many americans signed that petition?

If that is not enough, I will quote dude from another thread:

Messaggio originale di Pönnukaka:

Just to throw you few things that offended people in Japan about this game, starting with:
- Ubisoft used 1 legged Torii gate as promotional material, which is a symbol of victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in Japan https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-maker-of-an-assassins-creed-shadows-statue-featuring-a-one-legged-torii-says-the-design-was-insensitive-and-will-be-changed/

- About 8 months ago - 'NHK Party representative Satoshi Hamada formally asked Japanese government ministries to comment on Assassin's Creed Shadows. Hamada reportedly cited concerns over historical inaccuracies featured in the new Ubisoft game.'

- official comment from the Itate Hyozu Shrine(same one as in the game) in Hyogo Prefecture representative Mr. Nishimoto, Mr. Sawada who is head of Hyogo prefecture branch, and same prefecture and assembly member - Takayoshi Nagase - all 3 of them are not happy about this, calling it desecrating their sacred cultural site - https://youtu.be/iFxawYDlmzo (really listen to this one)

- People in Japan started a petition to cancel the game on change.org, it reached over 100 000 votes https://chng.it/cy9Pfhh8Tx

- Yasuke is not really offensive per se, but..
- Let me draw an example. Let's say, they make a game about AC Great Britan. Instead of British people, you put some immigrant. In the game you have Princess Diana, a historical person beloved by many, where your main non-native protagonist can romance her. Making her unfaithful to her husband, breaking the royal family, offending all her descendants, all royalists that live for this, whatever you think about it - it's simply that.

That is the scope of allowing Yasuke to romance Oichi, younger sister of Oda Nobunaga, who is known for, and I quote: "She was an influential figure in Japanese history in the Sengoku period. Although remembered mainly for her tragic life as sister of Oda Nobunaga, Japan's first unifier since Ōnin War, Oichi is also famous for her honorable conduct, her beauty and determination." she died, allowing her children to escape, while staying behind with her husband. But this game simply allows you to throw huge shade on all of that, because she likes the Yasuke more. If that is not offensive, I am not sure what is.