PETA Says Virtual Whaling in Assassin’s Creed 4 is a Gateway Drug That Will Lead to Actual Whaling

The reveal of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag has drawn the ire of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, due to the inclusion of hunting whales. PETA says this will lead people to actually start whaling as gamers will develop a taste for the real thing from playing the game.

PETA spokesperson Michelle Kretzer says, “Assassin’s Creed is a tasteless series of games that features dangerous cult activities, promotes violent vigilantism and glorifies historical recreations of murder. The creators of the series, Ubisoft, has finally crossed the line when they decided to include whaling in Assassin’s Creed 4.”

“Whaling is the cruel activity of hunting whales for oil and food. Today, most modern whaling is done by the Japanese, so it surprised PETA members to see a French video game studio become a propaganda machine for what Japanese game studios have obviously told them to do,” she continues.

“This virtual whaling is obviously a ‘gateway drug’ that will lead gamers to actually start hunting whales,” she explains, “When gamers get virtual points or ‘experience’ from killing these whales, they will become addicted to the thought of whaling and will join actual fishermen. This is most likely a tactic from the Japanese to boost their numbers as well as celebrate whaling as a positive thing.”

“We demand Ubisoft change the gameplay in Assassin’s Creed from hunting down endangered whales to searching environments carefully for plants,” she recommends, “This can be just as exciting as sailing a boat to hunt down the precious whale and gamers will not notice the difference. We also suggest the main character promote a vegan diet in the game to make up for even entertaining the thought of whaling.”

Ubisoft has not responded directly to the demands; however, a spokesperson has told us that “Ubisoft’s Petz series makes a great gift for friends and family members. We have begun development on a new entry into the long-running franchise with Whalez where you take care of an endangered whale and make sure they are not harpooned to death.”