Ubisoft is planning a new Assassin’s Creed titled Shadows, which is set to be released in November for PC, PS5, and Xbox. The game is already receiving a lot of criticism before its release regarding how the studio is handling the setting, and in the latest trailer, accusations of purchased comments are being raised. Leading the charge is chief critic Asmongold.
Here is the new trailer:
- The new Assassin’s Creed Shadow is set in Japan and fulfills a significant wish of the fans that they have had for years.
- The latest “trailer for the world” showcases the open game world in gameplay visuals along with the two main characters and some NPCs in feudal Japan.
- The video is now under criticism – not for what is shown, but for the comments that have been made underneath it.
These are the comments: Shortly after the release of the new video, many comments praising the trailer have accumulated. They all have exactly between 4,900 and 5,000 upvotes and come from relatively new profiles.
As Asmongold notes, who has had issues with Ubisoft before, the profiles all follow the same pattern:
- the names consist of a first name, last name, and 4 digits
- they all have a “pretty woman” as a profile picture
- each profile lacks a description; they are virtually meaningless
The comments praise how the game looks and partially address the criticism the game has faced previously, such as the dispute over the historical accuracy of the installment. Others state: Now that the haters are gone, one can finally look forward to the game properly.
The trailer has a rather poor like-to-dislike ratio: Out of nearly 19,000 upvotes, it has over 80,000 downvotes. Among the top comments, there are similar concerns as those voiced by Asmongold.
“Something is not right”
The comments with the most upvotes accuse Ubisoft of having purchased the suspicious comments. These are said to be bots that were used here to present the new trailer in a more favorable light than it actually is.
Users also point out that the respective profiles all come from pretty women who defend Ubisoft. Asmongold, who has recently garnered attention for polarizing statements and little credible theories, appears unusually reflective at this point:
Is this botted? Absolutely. There’s no question about it. I wonder if Ubisoft knows about this. This is basically a scam. Did Ubisoft do this? I don’t know. Is it in Ubisoft’s interest that this happened? Definitely, and something is fishy here. I don’t know what it is, but something is not right.
Asmongold via YouTube
He adds that the comments themselves are all unique. Someone must have written them just to give the purported bots something to upvote.
How likely is all of this? We cannot confirm whether it is actually bots. However, the recurring patterns with which the profiles have been created and the number of upvotes are indeed signs of automation. That Ubisoft is behind this is, however, rather unlikely. A “false flag” operation that aims to deliberately harm the company’s reputation could be possible.
MeinMMO has requested a statement from Ubisoft, but a response is still pending.
The studio has had a tough time with players recently. Some statements from the past continue to haunt Ubisoft to this day, and a controversial action from April of this year even sparked a Europe-wide petition: Ubisoft deletes a game from players’ libraries – Reminding us that we own nothing
