In 2024, Ubisoft faced controversy over two instances related to the game's marketing prior to its release being delayed. The first instance revolved around them using a flag created by the Sekigahara Teppo-tai, a Japanese historical re-enactment group, as part of the game's concept art and marketing materials without the group's permission. Ubisoft Japan would later issue an apology for this, agreeing to remove the flag from the game's website, but stated that it would likely remain in the concept art as part of the game's printed art book, something that the Sekigahara Teppo-tai would later request be removed as well. On July 23, Ubisoft posted an apology to Twitter for including material in their marketing that "caused concern within the Japanese community".

Two months after this statement, Ubisoft would face criticism again for a collectible figurine produced by PureArts featuring the protagonists Yasuke and Naoe standing in the ruins of a one-legged torii gate. This drew ire from critics who were already upset over Ubisoft's handling of the game's historical background, as the only known one-legged torii in Japan is located at the Sannō Shrine in Nagasaki. This torii was one of the few surviving structures after the United States' atomic bombing of the city in 1945. It became one-legged as a result of it being within 900 meters of the explosion's hypocenter, and serves as a local reminder of the bombing today. On September 24, just a few days after the figurine's announcement, Ubisoft cancelled their appearance at Tokyo Game Show for "various circumstances" (likely including these prior marketing controversies among other development factors) and later announced that the game's release would be delayed into the next year to allow for more time to polish it. PureArts' pre-order page for the figurine was removed from their website around the same time. They later released a statement on October 15 apologizing for the "insensitive design" and stated they would redesign the figurine for a later release.