Ubisoft canceled Assassin's Creed, a game about a black hero and the Ku Klux Klan, after the Shadows controversy.

Ubisoft has decided to cancel development of a future Assassin's Creed game set in the United States during Reconstruction, immediately following the Civil War. This was reported by journalist Stephen Totilo of Game File, citing his own sources, and was also confirmed by insider Tom Henderson.

The cancelled project would have centered on a Black man, formerly enslaved in the American South. According to the story, he would be freed, move west to start a new life, but ultimately join the Assassin order and return to his homeland to fight for justice. A central element of the story would have been the emergence of the Ku Klux Klan as a symbol of racial hatred.

Development, codenamed Project Scarlet, was in its early stages, but the idea inspired many employees at Ubisoft Quebec, the same studio that created Odyssey and Syndicate. Scott Phillips, who previously led the development of those games, was leading the project.

Despite the team's enthusiasm, the project was canceled in the summer of 2024. Sources claim the main reasons were Ubisoft's concerns about a new wave of backlash following criticism of Assassin's Creed Shadows for its choice of the black samurai Yasuke as one of its protagonists, as well as the difficult political situation in the United States.

Project Scarlet was initially considered the next major RPG in the franchise after Assassin's Creed Hexe and was slated for release in the fall of 2027, but these plans have now been permanently cancelled.