On Monday, publisher Ubisoft lifted the embargo on Assassin’s Creed IV, and the GamesBeat preview revealed that the game is about pirate life on the Caribbean.
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GamesBeat contacted Ubisoft about PETA’s stance, and the publisher provided the following response:
History is our playground in Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is a work of fiction that depicts the real events during the Golden Era of Pirates. We do not condone illegal whaling, just as we don’t condone a pirate lifestyle of poor hygiene, plundering, hijacking ships, and over-the-legal-limit drunken debauchery.
It’s an argument that many gamers have made as well: White-washing history won’t help PETA fight against animal cruelty.
And even if this new Assassin’s Creed does glorify whaling — as it certainly glorifies the life of a pirate — will it lead to a generation of gamers who head to the Caribbean to hunt down humpbacks?