Next Far Cry game to be a live-service project similar to Assassin’s Creed Infinity

[ziggypossum]

Far Cry creative director Dan Hay is leaving Ubisoft

 

Ubisoft is losing another key senior producer. This time it is Dan Hay, who is one of the driving forces behind the Far Cry series. GamesBeat learned about the departure and Ubisoft confirmed that Hay will be exiting the company tomorrow, November 12.

 

Here is a statement from an Ubisoft spokesperson:

 

“After more than 10 years at Ubisoft, Dan Hay has announced that he will be pursuing a new chapter in his professional life and he will be leaving on November 12. Dan has been the Executive Director of Far Cry and has developed an incredible multi-disciplined team to produce what has become one of the most popular games in Ubisoft’s history. While Dan has not announced where his path is taking him, we are confident that it will offer him the new challenges and experiences he seeks and deserves. We thank Dan for his many contributions over the years and wish him all the best for the future. In the interim, the brand team will be led by Sandra Warren in Montreal as well as a highly capable team of producers and directors, in addition to continuing its collaborations with a number of other studios around the world.”

 

Hay has overseen the primary Far Cry team for the last half decade. Up until this departure, he was working on the next entry in the series, which Ubisoft intends to launch as its live-service Far Cry similar to the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Infinity.

 

While Hay has not announced what he is doing next, investment in Montreal development talent is red hot right now. And it’s likely that he has his choice of joining any team or even starting up his own studio.

https://venturebeat.com/2021/11/11/far-cry-creative-director-dan-hay-is-leaving-ubisoft/

 

 

[Abby_TheLastofUs]

Because going GaaS worked so well for Ghost Recon.

[BrandedBerserk]

For fuck sakes does every single one of their franchises have to go down the same route?

 

I enjoy some of the games they put out but they're going through some major identity crisis right now. 

[Breakingthegreen]

3 hours ago, Abby_TheLastofUs said:

Because going GaaS worked so well for Ghost Recon.

And if it doesn't, they'll pull a Square Enix and just say, "yeah... it's the developers fault, games as service itself totally works and doesn't make games a grindy repetitive bore."

[PhantomFear94]

Think 6 is my last Far Cry. Was mildly disappointed with it, and if it’s trending towards GaaS then…no thank you. 

[willmill97]

Live service? More like loser shitvice amirite guys?

[The Alchemist]

Ubisoft haven't a clue what they're doing lately. There's no direction or leadership. It's just live service this, live service that. Throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks. Not surprising really given the absolute shithousery that goes on within the company.

 

I've enjoyed the majority of their games in the past, particularly the AC and FC franchises, and I've overlooked quite a lot of their shitty practices because I found their games fun, but enough is enough. I'll be picking up Valhalla and FC6 once they hit the bottom of the bargain bin, just because I want to see both franchises through to their end before the upcoming live service abominations release. After that I'm out for good. What a disgrace of a video game developer/publisher. 

 

 

[dieselmanchild]

Lol Ubisoft is going all in on this GaaS model. I am slightly terrified that this whole live service bs is going to become an industry standard in the not-so-distant future. The way a lot of games are doing DLC nowadays practically puts them in that camp already. *sigh*

[Eraezr]

The console gaming marketing is only big enough for only 3 major GaaS titles to be sustainable successful at the same time. 30+ titles have tried and failed and another 30+ are incoming to fail. 

2 hours ago, PhantomFear94 said:

Think 6 is my last Far Cry. Was mildly disappointed with it, and if it’s trending towards GaaS then…no thank you. 

 

I knew I was done after 5

11 minutes ago, dieselmanchild said:

Lol Ubisoft is going all in on this GaaS model. I am slightly terrified that this whole live service bs is going to become an industry standard in the not-so-distant future. The way a lot of games are doing DLC nowadays practically puts them in that camp already. *sigh*

 

Eh, just vote with your wallet. Corporations tend to follow the money.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Eraezr

[dieselmanchild]

7 minutes ago, Eraezr said:

Eh, just vote with your wallet. Corporations tend to follow the money.

I do tend to do this for the most part. But I’m not sure it makes that much of a difference half the time if I’m being honest. People have proven time and time again that they have no problem wasting money on stupid shit, which is probably why we’re seeing industry trending towards multiple season passes, live service, micro transactions etc. in the first place. There’s a lot of money to be made from these kinds of people who are more than willing to spend it.

 

I’ve always enjoyed the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry games, even if Ubisoft has been creatively bankrupt for a long time now, so I haven’t had much of a problem in continuing to support them. But I have very little interest in the planned directions for both of these series so this just may be the end of the road for me personally. ☹️

[Dangisuckatgamin]

Yeah 6 is probably my last far cry as well unless they shock me with something good that players actually say is good (I refuse to agree with most critics).

(Probability chance of seeing this is probably around .01% is my assumption)

 

Dont blame him for leaving… the game wasn’t good at all. He needs to go to a team who’s willing to do something creative and is fun to work on.

[starcrunch061]

Well, makes it an easy decision for me. I've never been much of a Far Cry player anyway, but I certainly have no interest in a live service version. 

 

2 hours ago, dieselmanchild said:

Lol Ubisoft is going all in on this GaaS model. I am slightly terrified that this whole live service bs is going to become an industry standard in the not-so-distant future. The way a lot of games are doing DLC nowadays practically puts them in that camp already. *sigh*

 

Certainly, they'll do it for a while, but as another poster said, I don't think the console market will support tons of live service games simultaneously. The big companies will either change their model, or ditch consoles. Either is probably fine with me.

Edited November 12, 2021 by starcrunch061

[EverythingOnFire]

What a shame. Stuff like this is the main reason I was so conflicted with getting a current-gen console. Thank goodness for both backwards compatibility & the indie/AA scene.

 

The video game industry can be pretty fascinating. They'll do everything possible (even break the law) to get every nickel & dime possible, and then they'll turn around and take huge gambles with this GaaS shit. When GaaS works, it must really work.

 

 

[djb5f]

This feels like branding as much as anything.

 

Anything with season passes and timed DLC drops could be considered a live service (which feels like most AAA games)

[DrBloodmoney]

Just now, djb5f said:

This feels like branding as much as anything.

 

Anything with season passes and timed DLC drops could be considered a live service (which feels like most AAA games)

Remains to be seen how they handle it, but I agree, this is what I was thinking too - it may not be quite the massive change that some people think it will be.

 

I mean, isn’t something like the current Hitman games essentially a form of “live service” game - given that they are continually supported for so long?

 

Not to say that the announcement shouldn’t set a few alarm bells ringing (and it does feel a little “cart-before-the-horse” to be doing both Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed simultaneously, without waiting to see how well received one is first) - but it’s not necessarily going to be some terrible, exploitative thing.

 

Really, we just need to wait and see before getting too worked up either way.

 

Like you say - the announcement may be more about shareholders and stock price than material changes to the games 

[Helyx]

GaaS are a far cry from what consumers actually want.

[Burritoprime]

Never really cared much for this particular franchise but the amount of gaas they are putting out is rather troublesome and if that's the future of gaming as a whole, as well as selling cross gen titles as a more pricey version like Vanguard did, plus the increase in games price which in my country makes new releases absurdly expensive PS5 might as well be my last console.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Sunnyburrito

[dieselmanchild]

1 hour ago, starcrunch061 said:

Certainly, they'll do it for a while, but as another poster said, I don't think the console market will support tons of live service games simultaneously. The big companies will either change their model, or ditch consoles. Either is probably fine with me.

 

 

This is a good point, although I’m sure they’ve thought this already and would probably opt to tweak the model like you said, so that it caters to the console market . 
 

When I think of “live service” or GaaS or whatever for the console market, I envision something that is more akin to what we’re already beginning to see with some games. Like some sort of extended, continual release schedule that wouldn’t see people chained to one game, but instead gives players an incentive to repeatedly come back to their game over a long period of time to spend more money on content/services/micro-transactions stuff. 
 

These developers and publishers will basically just be finding ways of extending the revenue stream for years to come after release. I feel like this practice has already been underway for quite some time, or at least being experimented with. DLC is the prime example. It used to be that a relatively successful game would have some extra content developed and released as a DLC pack for the fans a few months after launch, whereas it’s pretty obvious now that DLC is being developed and planned at the same time as the main game, with the windows for these planned releases getting longer.

 

One thing seems certain, the days of being able to buy one complete gaming product at launch is all but over. The $60 USD launch price basically buys you half a product now, with the rest to come later for more money.

 

28 minutes ago, Helyx said:

GaaS are a far cry from what consumers actually want.

Ba dum tassssss  ? 

[IntroPhenom]

6 hours ago, willmill97 said:

Live service? More like loser shitvice amirite guys?

 

Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.   

[DEI2EK]

57 minutes ago, Helyx said:

GaaS are a far cry from what consumers actually want.

Goddamn it Carlos

[Viper]

No thanks. I'm looking to possibly get FC6 for Black Friday, but like Assassin's Creed I'm not following them down this road after that. I find it hard to believe that Ubisoft will figure out how to suddenly make Live Service appealing. 

[RadiantFlamberge]

So it's some live-service dreck. To me, this spells the death of the FarCry series after part 6. I'm going to pass.

*goes over to piano and plays Taps*

On 11/12/2021 at 0:59 PM, Helyx said:

GaaS are a far cry from what consumers actually want.

 

[steel6burgh]

Don't these games far cry and Assassins Creed just continue to rake in the money though?  I thought I read someplace the last Assassins Creed was record sales or something.  For me I can't  do Ubisoft anymore.  Played too many good games at this point to play Far Cry and AC.   I'll still play the older AC games like Brotherhood or black flag haven't gotten around to them yet.

[AJ_Radio]

On 11/12/2021 at 0:03 AM, BrandedBerserk said:

For fuck sakes does every single one of their franchises have to go down the same route?

 

I enjoy some of the games they put out but they're going through some major identity crisis right now. 

 

I say the AAA gaming industry as a whole is going down the same route. Too much greed and shortsightedness to even think about the long term.

 

Ubisoft is a stupid corporation doing things 'by the numbers', so to speak.

[Dantes_994]

5 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

I say the AAA gaming industry as a whole is going down the same route. Too much greed and shortsightedness to even think about the long term.

 

Ubisoft is a stupid corporation doing things 'by the numbers', so to speak.

I agree and their handling of the Sands of Time remake is a pretty good example of what they think of single player games