As crazy as it would have sounded to say just one year ago, Assassin's Creed Shadows will likely take the crown as the most controversial game of the current decade. Despite having a massively successful franchise on their hands with hundreds of millions of copies sold, Ubisoft has found themselves in increasingly hot water, due to many of the creative decisions they have made for their upcoming Assassin's Creed title. This has prompted intense backlash from both gamers and Japanese people, with one petition calling for Ubisoft to scrap the game entirely.
Following Ubisoft's half-hearted apology for disrespecting Japan's history and culture, Kotaku has now released yet another deranged hit-piece on right-wingers, Donald Trump, anti-woke gamers, and Japanese people as a whole. This unhinged diatribe was written by none other than Alyssa Mercante, a woman who has made a career out of writing mentally ill rage-bait articles to try and drum up internet clicks.
This article has been met with predictable pushback from both gamers and online commentators, but now Forbes's Erik Kane has joined the fray and has decried Alyssa's insane antics as "bad faith." Speaking on Alyssa Mercante's antagonistic, narcissistic need for attention, he would go on to say, "Truth is, she relishes this shit. And it's far easier to say 'it's all just hate' than to bother with cumbersome nuance."
There are certainly hateful and bigoted people angry about Assassin's Creed Shadows but Alyssa Mercante engages in such bad faith. Truth is, she relishes this shit. And it's far easier to say 'it's all just hate' than to bother with cumbersome nuance.
— Erik 'daibo' Kain (@erikkain) July 24, 2024
https://t.co/Pizv79xJnn via…
This prompted a string of responses from Alyssa, where she attacked not only Erik's ability to write, but also....his choice in attire? Rather than engage in civil discussion and attempt to debate Erik's claims, Alyssa went straight to insults and attacks. Mind you, this is the same woman who wrote a review for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and chose to insert herself in the article as the victim of a "hate campaign."
It would seem that, despite Erik Kane being a competent and honest journalist, he committed the cardinal sin of speaking out against the games media's tendency to goad gamers into reading their insult-laden publications. It's likely that Alyssa has an axe to grind with Erik for his criticisms over The Acolyte and The Rings of Power, both of which are undeniably terrible shows that Kotaku and the rest of the mainstream media have been carrying water for over the past few years.
It's amusing how often I see someone on Twitter accusing other people of being "incels" or "bigots" and then use the most grotesque gendered and/or racist insults.
— Erik 'daibo' Kain (@erikkain) July 24, 2024
It would seem that simply telling the truth in journalism is enough to earn the ire of sycophants and mentally-ill activists who have infected this industry and are actively working to push out dissenting voices. While I'm sure that Mr. Kane and I would disagree about many societal and political issues, I applaud his effort to tell the truth, no matter who it upsets.