Far Cry 6 was three years ago, so we’re due for a sequel in the next year or two (Ubisoft)
Assassin’s Creed may be Ubisoft’s priority at the moment but a new leak suggests they’re revaluating the Far Cry series, before the next game.
2024 has not been kind to Ubisoft. The company’s share prices has been dropping all year, Stars Wars Outlaws wasn’t as big a hit as Ubisoft wanted, and it’s already decided to pull the plug on XDefiant – just seven months after it came out.
As such, there are serious discussions of selling the company to Tencent, while in the meantime Ubisoft seems to be putting all its eggs in the Assassin’s Creed basket. After a delay, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is out in February and it’s claimed Ubisoft intends to release 10 more Assassin’s Creed games in the next five years.
While all that’s going on, it sounds like Ubisoft is revaluating its next two Far Cry games, with a new report mentioning changes to the series formula and an internal delay.
What are the next Far Cry games?
As a reminder, Ubisoft is said to be working on two separate Far Cry projects. The first is a typical sequel, Far Cry 7 (or Blackbird as it’s codenamed), while the second is a multiplayer extraction shooter spin-off codenamed Maverick.
According to Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson, both games were aiming for a 2025 launch, but his latest report on the subject claims plans have changed and they’ve been pushed back into 2026.
From the sound of it, this is due to the complexities of both games’ development, with Henderson adding that Ubisoft is looking to break away from the Far Cry formula.
This can be seen in both games’ premises. Maverick is set to be the Far Cry series’ first dedicated multiplayer game, with its gameplay loop incorporating survival elements as players battle not just each other but the wilderness and harsh weather.
As for Far Cry 7, its plot apparently involves a 24 hour in-game time limit to save your kidnapped family, with the non-linear story changing depending on which family members you rescue. If accurate, this would be a radical departure from the likes of Far Cry 5 and Far Cry 6.
That’s not all, though. Far Cry’s movement systems are also said to be seeing a major overhaul in both projects, with techniques like tactical sprinting, sliding, and vaulting being introduced. In addition, Far Cry 7 will make use of Maverick’s inventory and looting systems due to both games originally being one singular project.
After the release of Far Cry 6, Ubisoft claimed the series had its best year ever in a May 2022 fiscal report. Their actions since though have implied it was a financial disappointment, with so far no official confirmation that Far Cry 7 exists.
Although Maverick hasn’t been described as a live service game, Ubisoft’s continued interest in that space means it wouldn’t be surprising if it was.
Henderson’s report, however, suggests there’s dwindling faith in the project, especially in the wake of XDefiant’s shutdown and subsequent layoffs.
XDefiant was clearly made to capitalise on the live service games trend and it’s easy to assume Maverick is the result of Ubisoft doing the same with the extraction shooter trend popularised by the likes of Escape From Tarkov.
Ubisoft has tried this once already with 2022’s Rainbow Six Extraction, which was a solid game but failed to find a consistent audience, as Ubisoft stopped supporting it less than a year after it came out.
It’s too early to tell how either Far Cry game will perform, but the last few years of gaming make it difficult to be optimistic about Maverick’s chances if there’s already a lack of faith in it internally.
Far Cry 6 – The next Far Cry will likely retain an open world setting, but how will that be impacted by its purported time limit? (Ubisoft)
Far Cry 7 report says next games will move away from series formula