Opinion: Far Cry Should Double Down On What Made It Great, Not Become Another Live Service

During my time at Pure Xbox, I've been unapologetic in how much I like the Far Cry series - Far Cry 3 is one of my favourite games ever, and the few sequels that followed were very good fun too. Today though, new information coming out of Ubisoft suggests that the franchise will "push multiplayer" in future, and that approach has me quite worried about what's next for the IP.

Before I dive into why I'm worried, I should say that this news on a multiplayer focus for Far Cry is coming directly from Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot, as shared by Game File (paywall) and VGC. Basically, the Ubisoft boss has said that the next Far Cry will "bring the multiplayer aspects more predominantly [...] so that it can also be played for a long time". That's all well and good, but I just don't understand why multiplayer needs needs to be prominent to make that happen, personally.

Okay, sure, I might be a bit of an edge case - but I still regularly boot up the likes of Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4 to this day. Their open worlds — single-player ones, might I add — are lively, dynamic playgrounds that almost feel like they continue to exist when I walk away from them. They don't of course, and I can go back and play them whenever I like at my own pace with the world unchanged, but Ubisoft nailed that feeling of an evolving world. All before the term 'live service' had been uttered.

The way that clusters of island natives in Far Cry 3 shudder at the sight of a tiger strolling through their village, the way that a military presence is more keenly felt in Far Cry 4 when I skip over liberating an outpost to go do some other activity that I'm sidetracked by - sure, these mechanics are artificial in some way and the world can be rolled back by simply loading another save, but they feel real, and that's what matters. Far Cry doesn't need multiplayer to keep me playing and to keep me returning, it just needs to contain an engaging open world that asks questions of the player along the way.

I'm of the belief that Far Cry started to go downhill with 5, and while that and New Dawn were still good fun to an extent (the less we talk about 6, the better), they started to feel less alive than the three or four games that came before them. Wildlife didn't have as much of an impact, having control of radio towers and outposts didn't change the feel of the world and how it operated as much - and generally speaking, I just felt less of a reason to keep returning. Those older Far Cry games were far from perfect, especially looking back through a modern lens, but there's so much potential to build on what was started back then. Ubisoft should take those systems and expand on them, not strip them away like in Far Cry 5 onwards - or turn the whole thing into a live service like the company seems to be planning.

Opinion: Far Cry Should Double Down On What Made It Great, Not Become Another Live Service1

Look, I know Ubisoft's multiplayer comment may be a bit of a throwaway one, and I really don't know what Ubisoft's plans are with Far Cry 7. Maybe multiplayer will breathe life into the next Far Cry, maybe it will give the world a more dynamic feel. But what about in a few years' time when Ubisoft abandons the live service - we've seen in Hyper Scape, XDefiant and more that the company is definitely willing to walk away from a multiplayer game and leave it unplayable in the process. I'm still playing Far Cry 3 over a decade on, and I want that option of returning to a Far Cry world years down the line to always be there.

As long as the next Far Cry has a proper story campaign element, I'll probably give it a shot - I suffered through the mediocrity of Far Cry 6 just to see it through its conclusion. But, if 7 becomes a live service game that I have to 'keep up with', I just don't know how interested I'll be in doing that. Build an offline world that feels dynamic and chances are I'll play your new Far Cry for years, Ubisoft. Have the game rely on multiplayer, and well, there probably won't be much game to go back to once the world has moved on.

Any of you feel strongly about Far Cry and its future? Talk to us about what's next down below.