France Unhappy with Assassin’s Creed: Unity’s Storyline

Ubisoft has been copping quite a lot of flack recently. If I were to link to you all of the articles that only just eTeknix has written over the last two months, it would take me all day. But if you’re interested in what started the original ‘witch-hunt’, look no further than Ubisoft’s Assassins Creed: Unity developers claiming that 60 FPS ‘looks weird’, further stating that 30 FPS provides a much more ‘cinematic’ experience.

Former Minister and Presidential Candidate of France, Jean-Lux Mélenchon, has publicly slated Assassins Creed: Unity and it’s developing company – Ubisoft. Thanks to Polygon and TweakTown, we’ve learned that Mélenchon has stated that Unity is nothing more than “propaganda” and “favors the narrative of France’s ruling elite over the revolutionaries”.

It doesn’t stop there. Through an interview conducted on French radio and translated by the Daily Telegraph, Mélenchon’s words only got stronger. He proudly stated that “[Unity] presents an image of hatred of the Revolution, hatred of the people, hatred of the republic which is rampant in the far-right milieu” damning Ubisoft’s representation of Marie-Antionette as she is a “poor little rich girl” and a “cretin”.

There’s no doubting that many proud French citizens are quite passionate about their long history, this is the first time that we’ve seen it transfer across to hatred for a game. Mélenchon was also quite disgruntled about the representation of his people during 1789 – which is the time period that AC: unity is set in, stating:

“The man who was our liberator at a certain moment of the Revolution, because the Revolution lasted a long time, Robespierre, is presented as a monster. It is propaganda against the people, the people who are [portrayed as] barbarians, bloodthirsty savages. In 1789 there were the poor aristocrats, and they are presented as fine upstanding people”.

You know that you’ve done something very right, or very wrong when you start insulting those who would have never heard of your computer game otherwise – especially those who are diplomats. I wonder what American politicians think of Call of Duty?

We will continue to report as the story develops here at eTeknix.

Image courtesy of eTeknix