PETA says Assassin's Creed 4 glorifies whaling

PETA: Assassin’s Creed 4 Glorifies Whaling

by Jennifer Mishler March 5, 2013
Categories: Animals, Causes, Entertainment.
Photo: Ubisoft

The latest video game in the Assassin’s Creed series from Ubisoft, “Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag” puts players on the high seas as 18th century pirates. The game, recently unveiled and set for release in October 2013, is complete with battles, treasure…and whaling.

Assassin’s Creed gamers will be able to harpoon virtual whales in a realistic hunt. PETA recently released a statement in response to the game that they say is glorifying an outdated and cruel practice. The animal rights organization said “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.”

The PETA spokesperson added “PETA encourages video game companies to create games that celebrate animals—not games that promote hurting and killing them.”

Ubisoft has yet to respond to the organization’s comments, but PETA has had success in similar campaigns before. Zynga removed dog fighting from their game “Mafia Wars” after outraged animal lovers spoke up.

Whaling remains a topic of heated international debate. Some countries continue whaling operations despite public outcry and an international ban of commercial whaling established in 1986, including Japan whose government subsidizes an annual whale hunt that they say is conducted for scientific research.

About Jennifer Mishler

Jennifer is an animal advocate and activist. She is a volunteer coordinator with The Girls Gone Green, a nonprofit organization advocating for animals rights, veganism, and environmentalism. She is also an Onshore Volunteer with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and a volunteer with CJ Acres Animal Rescue Farm, a nonprofit that rescues and rehabilitates farm animals. Along with writing for Ecorazzi, she writes about veganism and animal rights on her blog, A Dog's Eye View. She lives in Jacksonville, FL with her husband and their three animal friends. Follow Jennifer on Twitter: @jennygonevegan

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As usual Japan is an international disgrace when it comes to whaling.
http://www.facebook.com/edwinsoto Edwin Soto

I’m a vegan and an assassin’s creed fan. So knowing both sides here, I can easily say STFU PETA, you have no business here. I find it ridiculous that the only thing you can find morally wrong in a game that is inherently violent, promotes assassinating people (did you even read the title!?) is the whaling aspect? Not the fact that you could trip horses that were riding with enemies in the first of the series (2007) of the wresting with bears and deer for the selling of meat in the last game (2012).

Sorry PETA, I may be a fan of assassin’s creed, but that doesn’t translate into me killing world leaders, hopping off rooftops, or living by a revolutionary doctrine – all of which the game glorifies as well. You guys make us vegans look bad….a lot.
Brandon Wirthmann

Ubisoft is just tring to capture the mood of the 18th century! And besides PETA is concerned about whaling and not assassinating?
http://twitter.com/amsterdam_sam Amsterdam Sam

They care more for the Whales in Assassins Creed than they do for the Hookers in Grand Theft Auto??

That’s blatant pixel discrimination!!

Down with that sort of thing!!
http://twitter.com/PJ_Watkins PJ Watkins

GTFO PETA, you have no right to try this crap. Why don’t you care about the assassinating of people in that game and chopping them up? You’ll let thousands die to save a few hunered whales live both here in the game and in real life? Screw you people.