Obviously this year is proving to be a bit strange for the games industry, Ubisoft included. Where a certain AAA failure forced it to delay many of its upcoming titles, issues related to COVID-19 have made things even worse. But there is hope, withAssassin’s Creed Valhallacoming to next-gen consoles later this year. Only thing missing is the reveal forFar Cry 6, which is also apparently slated for this fiscal year.
Pair that with the already announcedWatch Dogs: Legion,Gods and Monsters, andRainbow Six: Quarantine, the publisher has a lot on the horizon for 2020 and 2021. Early reports stated that Ubisoft would have five of its AAA franchises release during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, and considering four have already been announced, it should be safe to sayFar Cry 6is up next.
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Far Cry 6 is Coming, Probably
Of course that would be conjecture if it weren’t for Jason Schreier, formerly of Kotaku, stating thatFar Crywas among the Ubisoft’s release slate for this year. There wereplenty ofFar Cry 6rumors flying around the internetprior to Schreier’s comments on Twitter, but his voice carries plenty of weight throughout the game industry. Considering he was right aboutAssassin’s Creed Valhallabeing one of the five aforementioned AAA games eventually revealed and its viking theme,Far Cryis likely on the way as well.
In this case, it makes sense considering there’s noThe CreworSplinter Celltitle coming anytime soon from the little bits of information Ubisoft has given so far. It’s definitely unfortunate for those holding out for anewSplinter Cell, one of Ubisoft’s most demanded-to-return franchises, but the aforementioned lineup does sound promising.
Ubisoft specifically notesFar Cry’s “sustained growth” in its most recent earnings call press release, so the franchise is in a very positive state for the publisher at the moment.Fans can likely expect the nextFar Cryto come out around the end of its 2020-2021 fiscal year, similar to previous entries. Ubisoft’s release slate the past three or four years has remained relatively consistent, with the bi-annualAssassin’s Creedgames coming out in the fall andFar Crygames coming out in the spring.Far Cry 6will likely follow suit, more than likely releasing sometime between February and April 2021, according to its fiscal year.
A Packed Release Slate
It’s worth mentioning that Ubisoft’s 2020-2021 fiscal year is one ofthe most packed release years for Ubisoftin recent history, in terms of AAA games. Additions likeGods and Monsters, along with mainstays likeWatch Dogs: Legion, have to fit in somewhere between a full-lengthAssassin’s Creedgame and probably the nextFar Cry. It’s a stark contrast from last fiscal year, where Ubisoft had its lightest release slate in recent years with only three AAA games. Now it seems Ubisoft is going all-in and releasing several core entries in some of the publisher’s biggest franchises thus far, but the challenge here is going to be perception. Many are going to be distrusting after Breakpoint’s debacle, so the delivery of these games are going to have to be up to snuff.
It’s quite possible a few of these franchises might see some delays, of whichFar Crywould be a prime target for.Watch Dogs: Legion,Gods and Monsters, andRainbow Six: Quarantinehave already been delayed indefinitely due toissues withGhost Recon: Breakpoint. Further delaying these games would be the source of even more disappointment from fans despite these games being revealed relatively recently. To that end, with COVID-19 compounding the pressure on Ubisoft’s release schedule,Far Crybeing delayed further is a possibility. Ubisoft hasn’t nailed down a concrete release date for the three already revealed AAA titles, so aFar Crydelay may not even be announced if the game isn’t revealed.
Release Date Shuffling
That being said, it’s hard to tell what the immediate future looks like forFar Cry, but if Schreier’s comments are correct as they were forValhalla, a few things could happen. Mainly,Far Crycould be still be slated for the usual springtime release window like the last few iterations. The indefinite delays forWatch Dogs,Rainbow Six,andGods and Monstersmay see their releases spliced between one another during the summer and the beginning of autumn. Ubisoft obviously doesn’t want any of their franchises competing with one another,especially with anAssassin’s Creedgame slated for holiday.
On the flip side,Ghost Recon: Breakpoint’s struggling state may have strongly affected Ubisoft’s core franchises in big ways.Breakpointreceived plenty of criticisms for microtransactions, repetitive gameplay, and several other issues. If critical gameplay adjustments need to be made to Ubisoft’s other franchises as a result, it’s possibleFar Cry 6could receive a circumstantial delay. No doubt it would be a difficult decisions, but Ubisoft would likely be hesitant to delayWatch DogsorRainbow Sixany further than the publisher already has. So, consideringFar Cry6hasn’t even been announced, development may need to be slowed down or halted to divert resources to more pressing franchises.
Fans should hear more relatively soon, asUbisoft’s recently announced digital showcasecomes in July, which should provide a major update for several of these franchises. HopefullyFar Cry 6will be among the announcements and hopefully a legitimate release schedule is also revealed, as that’s a lot of games to pack into a relatively small amount of time.
Far Cry 6is reportedly in development.
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