Originally, fans of the franchise would have gotten their hands onFar Cry 6in February 2021, but that has now been delayed. Ubisoft’s announcement cites production challenges related to COVID-19 as the reasoning, something the industry has been dealing with for months now, and it’s likely not the last game to be delayed.
Unfortunately, Ubisoft did not specifyhow longFar Cry 6was delayed, instead offering a tentative window between April 2021 and March 2022, a wide window just to likely cover all bases. It should be noted that, for context, Ubi previously delayed a bunch of its games to re-focus development after lessons learned fromGhost Recon Breakpoint’s launch, a game where the gaming giant failed to hit the nail on the head. While this has to be considered, it seems unlikely to be the concern here. There’s no reason to not believe COVID-19 is the culprit, and while that in of itself is unfortunate, this is good forFar Cry 6.
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Far Cry 6’s Delay is Ultimately a Good Thing
The delay, with months to go before it launches, seems surprising if on the fact alone. That’s not even taking into consideration how every game sinceFar Cry 4has released in the earliest parts of the year, with this delaying putting it further behind than most others in this regard. However, it’s worth looking at Ubi’s plate right now:Watch Dogs Legionreleased just a few days ago,Assassin’s Creed Valhallareleases in a few days, andImmortals Fenyx Risingis coming on December 3. That’sthree open-world games which likely adapt the typical Ubisoftpattern, and that repetition may quickly wear on fans byFar Cry 6.
Pushing this back, even if just a couple of months, will let players refresh their palettes before moving onto the next open-world Ubi title, and on top of that, this is likely extra testing and development time. Sometimes things get missed, such as theWatch Dogs Legion404 bug, and this means a more polished game upon launch. After all, while this may seem like it’s months away, video game development is no easy task. Combine this time to polish with the distance from similar Ubi titles, andFar Cry 6has the room it needs to breathe and hopefully succeed.
After all,Far Cry 6finds itself in an odd position: some are growing tired of it, withFar Crypotentially developing franchise fatiguemuch likeAssassin’s Creedyears back. On the other hand, the next title is making some changes that have many excited for it, and that’s the big crux of this delay:Far Cry 6may define the future of that franchise. It needs to come out swinging, and even if it ends up just being a month or two, that’s more than enough time to ensure the bases are loaded.
Far Cry 6is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
