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Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed 4 scrutinized by PETA for in-game whale hunting

  • Posted March 5th, 2013 at 01:01 EDT by Timothy Nunes
  • 9 Comments

Ubisoft today came under fire by the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) due to the newest upcoming installment of the Assassin's Creed series promoting the "hurting and killing" of whales within the game.

Freshly announced, Assassin's Creed 4 is already brewing up controversy over its subject matter. The hunting of whales, or whaling, has been banned commercially for over 25 years, but the aftermath of such hefty whaling practices back then nearly brought many species of whales to extinction. Because of this, PETA had this to say:

"Whaling—that is, shooting whales with harpoons and leaving them to struggle for an hour or more before they die or are hacked apart while they are still alive—may seem like something out of the history books, but this bloody industry still goes on today in the face of international condemnation, and it’s disgraceful for any game to glorify it. PETA encourages video game companies to create games that celebrate animals—not games that promote hurting and killing them."

PETA catches a lot of flack for its organized support for animal rights, but the events that occur in the game aren't available for analysis yet, so there's no way of knowing for certain if the new game will promote whaling or if it's simply a part of the game. It could be that Ubisoft intends to capture the times accurately more than highlighting one blemish on that history, but we won't know for certain until it hits PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC later this year.

Via Venture Beat

 

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Comments

  1. DarkNemesis

    • 1:37am EST - March 5th, 2013

    Man screw PETA this is just a damn video game and whaling was apart fo the games time period. As a black man I was not offended with the use of the N word by whites when I seen Django. I do not advocate whites to say the N word period, but the movie did not promote the use of the word no more than AC4 will promote whale hunting. There is a Law against hunting whales so it is not like because of this game people will suddenly start hunting whales.

  2. sengoku

    • 2:37am EST - March 5th, 2013

    well i guess that they dont even have a choice but to include it.
    there is not much to do out at sea if you dont count fishing

  3. honomaru

    • 3:43am EST - March 5th, 2013

    PETA has no power.

    Moving on.

  4. Eliphaz Levi | Eliphaz

    • 4:10am EST - March 5th, 2013

    It's ok to kill humans in games though? Further it isn't set in the present, it aims to be a historical representation. Power to PETA for defending the defenseless; but this seems either misguided, or just a shallow attempt at publicity on AC's coat-tails.

     

  5. Eliphaz Levi | Eliphaz

    • 4:10am EST - March 5th, 2013

    It's ok to kill humans in games though? Further it isn't set in the present, it aims to be a historical representation. Power to PETA for defending the defenseless; but this seems either misguided, or just a shallow attempt at publicity on AC's coat-tails.

     

  6. podsaurus

    • 6:53am EST - March 5th, 2013

    AC3 had hunting and killing of animals.  I don't remember hearing a single peep from PETA about killing deer and bear.

  7. jrc1978 | SilentCivilian

    • 7:30am EST - March 5th, 2013

    So now video games need to have something in the credits that says 'no animals were harmed in the making of this video game'?? Seriously...WTF...do something that matters, PETA!

  8. Gameoholic007 | Demented007

    • 1:06pm EST - March 5th, 2013

    PETA can go jump in a lake. That organization is useless. Their have been plenty of games out there that the player was able to kill animals, but when it comes to whales, its time to have a fit.

  9. PS3-The Ultimate Machine

    • 1:34pm EST - March 5th, 2013

    PETA's right! Take out the Whale Hunting! Who cares if it's a Historic adventure game! /s

    Bull all over, PETA would do anything for publicity and I mean ANYTHING! They'd rather have kids drinking beer instead of milk, plus those hypocrytes support "mercy killing" of animals. You guys remember the drama these publicity whores created when Obama swatted a fly?

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