A new installment in Ubisoft’s flagship action-adventure series Assassin’s Creed has been halted in development, according to a belated report from the gaming outlet “Game File.”

Per Game File’s interviews with current and former Ubisoft employees, the in-development title was set during the still-turbulent Reconstruction era that followed the American Civil War. The planned protagonist was a Black man who had lived in bondage in the South and later migrated west to begin a new life.

Because development has been stopped, detailed information about the game has not been disclosed. However, the synopsis that circulated indicated the protagonist would, for reasons left unspecified, join the Assassin Brotherhood and return to the South to fight for justice, confronting the abuses of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

The project was reportedly shut down in July 2024 by a decision from Ubisoft’s management. Two main factors have been cited for the cancellation.

The first is the strong public backlash to the Black samurai character Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Even before release, word that a Black samurai would serve as one of the leads sparked significant controversy among gamers, in Japan and worldwide.

The second is concern over the current climate of political tension in the United States. Management appears to have judged that a story about a formerly enslaved Black protagonist clashing with a white supremacist organization risked provoking excessive political controversy and triggering another wave of backlash.

This article was translated from the original that appeared on INVEN.