Ubisoft rumored to be working on multiplayer Far Cry as well as inevitable Far Cry 7
A live-service Far Cry does sound like the sort of thing Ubisoft would do.
According to sources cited by Insider Gaming, Ubisoft has two Far Cry games currently in development—a mainline singleplayer sequel, and a separate multiplayer spin-off, though they began as a single project.
The early Far Cry games were quite different to each other, but with Far Cry 3 the formula set like cement. Ubisoft Montreal throws a dart at a globe and then combines a charismatic villain, some outposts, murderous local wildlife, and a crafting system where you take that murderous local wildlife and turn them into a slightly bigger wallet or whatever. The expansions and DLC are allowed to get a bit weird, but even they stick to the familiar gameplay format.
A purely multiplayer Far Cry might break the mold, at least a little. According to Insider Gaming, it would be "an extraction-based shooter with mechanics such as permadeath, a backpack system, contracts, and more". The site says it's seen screenshots that depict extraction zones and chests full of loot.
Extraction shooters like Escape From Tarkov and Hunt: Showdown are all the rage right now, challenging players to raid a map full of other players and AI threats, earn all the loot they can, and get out at a designated point, with the risk that whatever gear they bring with them will be lost if they die. Ubisoft helped inspire the subgenre with The Division's Dark Zone, and previously tried to get in on the action with Rainbow Six Extraction.
Another detail mentioned by Insider Gaming's sources is that the multiplayer Far Cry is "pitched as being set in the Alaskan wilderness", which lines up with an old Ubisoft poll about potential settings for Far Cry games. "A Far Cry game in remote Alaska about surviving extreme wilderness" was the first suggestion presented.
Kotaku reported that its own sources at Ubisoft back up the existence of both games, claiming that the company's CEO Yves Guillemot mentioned both in an internal memo. They also added the detail that the next Far Cry sequel would be made with the Snowdrop engine, which was used for The Division and will be used by several upcoming Ubisoft games like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, The Settlers: New Allies, the Splinter Cell remake, and its open world Star Wars game.
There's no guarantee the next numbered Far Cry would share a spin-off's setting, so let's look back at some of the other options from that old Ubisoft poll. Which of these would you like to see filled with outposts and things you can grapple onto?
- A Far Cry game in a futuristic, sci-fi setting on another planet
- A Far Cry game set in the Vietnam war during the 1960s
- A Far Cry game set in the cocaine trafficking jungles of Peru
- A Far Cry game where you can fight against or join vampires
- A Far Cry game in the Spaghetti Western style set in the late 19th century Americas
- A Far Cry game that is set during a zombie outbreak
- Blood Dragon 2: A sequel to Blood Dragon with more Rex Power Colt
- A Far Cry game set in a Mad Max style post-apocalyptic world
- A Far Cry game in the present day on a Jurassic Park style island of dinosaurs
- A Far Cry game based on the world of Shangri-La from Far Cry