It’s been a while since Ubisoft treated fans to a new Far Cry release. Over the past decade, we’ve been fairly spoiled with almost yearly additions to the first-person shooter series, aligning with Ubisoft’s release patterns for other big hitters like Assassin’s Creed and the Tom Clancy series. However, since Far Cry 6 arrived in 2021, the silence has been deafening regarding future installments, whether mainline games or spin-offs. The snippets of information we’ve gathered aren’t from Ubisoft’s camp but from insiders like Tom Henderson.
Henderson recently shared that Ubisoft has two Far Cry titles brewing. One is reportedly a mainline single-player experience, codenamed Project Blackbird, and the other ventures into multiplayer, ominously titled Project Maverick. With Far Cry yet to explore the extraction shooter genre, Project Maverick could be the boldest move of the two. Given the challenges Ubisoft faced with previous extraction shooters, like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, it’s crucial they learn from past missteps.
From what we know, Project Maverick seems to echo the Ubisoft-created Rainbow Six Extraction. Launched in early 2022, Rainbow Six Extraction leverages the popularity of Rainbow Six Siege, placing players in teams of three to tackle alien-ravaged environments. Your mission? Work together to collect intel and extract data, with stealth playing a surprisingly big role. Sound familiar? That’s because it borrows heavily from the “Outbreak” mode in Rainbow Six Siege. Despite being a standalone game, Extraction felt more like a rehash, reusing operators and features from the 2015 title, which left players craving fresh content.
Rainbow Six Extraction had a promising start, drawing over 3 million players in its first week, but interest dwindled sharply just months later. By the end of its first year, Ubisoft decided to cease support for the game. While there are varying opinions on why this happened, a major consensus is that a lack of diverse content and repetitive gameplay led to its decline.
Project Maverick Needs to Stand Out and Be Rich in Content from the Start
If rumors about Project Maverick’s development prove true, Ubisoft must ensure it launches with a robust amount of quality content to avoid mirroring Rainbow Six Extraction’s fate. It’s also vital to make sure Project Maverick distinctly differs from its single-player sibling, Project Blackbird. While it’s fine to share some assets, experiencing the same gameplay, skills, and weapons in both could result in them feeling too similar. Learning from Rainbow Six Extraction’s pitfalls, Ubisoft’s challenge will be to craft a Far Cry extraction shooter that breaks the mold and provides a fresh, engaging experience. There’s certainly potential, but it hinges on delivering a rich, original game that can stand the test of time.
Far Cry remains a beloved saga in the gaming arena, known for its vibrant, open-world settings, intriguing characters, and arsenal of gameplay options. As fans eagerly await what’s next, the stakes are high for Ubisoft to innovate while honoring the legacy of the franchise.
