Tech Desk 
Oct 12, 2025
Ubisoft has reportedly cancelled a planned Assassin’s Creed game that was set during and after the American Civil War, citing concerns over potential political backlash.
Reportedly, the project was in early development and had been described internally as one of the franchise’s most ambitious entries before being shelved by company leadership in mid-2024.
Ubisoft cancels Civil War-era Assassin’s Creed
Allegedly, the protagonist for the game was a previously enslaved Black man from the American South who emancipated, went west to start a new life, and soon thereafter was recruited by the Assassins, returning south during the Reconstruction era to fight for justice against the Ku Klux Klan and other oppressive forces at the time.
Insiders suggest that Ubisoft’s Paris headquarters decided to stop development following two concerns before ultimately delaying the project. First, there was the backlash for the announcement of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which features Yasuke, a Black samurai, as one of its leads.
Second, those at Ubisoft expressed concern the new project would be considered “too political” based on the current political climate in the US.
According to GameFile, “Too political in a country too unstable, to make it short.” Although it’s uncommon for a major studio like Ubisoft to cancel projects in early development, former insiders said the reasoning that went into the decision is worth noting.
Moreover, Ubisoft has not commented publicly on the report or clarified whether the Civil War-era Assassin’s Creed concept could be revived in the future. If developed, it would have been among the franchise’s most modern and socially charged settings to date.
