Far Cry’s Project Maverick Can’t Repeat Rainbow Six’s Mistakes

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As a seasoned gamer with over three decades of experience under my belt, I can’t help but feel a tinge of excitement and trepidation at the rumors swirling around Ubisoft’s Project Maverick. The idea of a Far Cry extraction shooter is intriguing, to say the least, but history has shown us that such ventures can be precarious, as evidenced by Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction.

It’s been quite a while since Ubisoft released a new installment of the popular first-person shooter series, Far Cry. For over ten years, Far Cry games have been released almost annually, similar to Ubisoft’s release strategy for other franchises such as Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy. Following the launch of 2021’s Far Cry 6, however, there has been little official news regarding the future of the Far Cry franchise. This includes no announcements about new mainline games or even spin-offs. The only information we have about upcoming Far Cry titles comes not from Ubisoft themselves but rather from sources like Tom Henderson and other industry insiders.

Lately, Henderson shared that Ubisoft is developing not just one but two new games within the Far Cry series. One of them is a single-player mainline title, code-named Project Blackbird, while another is a multiplayer extraction shooter game, currently known as Project Maverick. Given that Far Cry hasn’t ventured into the extraction shooter genre before, Project Maverick could potentially be the most daring of the two projects if they indeed materialize. With this in mind, Ubisoft should strive to steer clear of the mistakes it made with other games in the same genre, like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, to ensure a successful outcome.

Far Cry’s Project Maverick Needs to Steer Clear of Rainbow Six Extraction’s Path

Rainbow Six Extraction is a Co-Op Extraction Shooter that Failed to Sustain a Healthy Playerbase

Based on the details that have been disclosed thus far, Project Maverick appears to share many similarities with Ubisoft’s tactical shooter game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, released in 2022 for all platforms except Nintendo. This title is a spin-off from the popular first-person shooter (FPS) game Rainbow Six Siege from 2015. In this game, players are deployed into areas overrun by aliens, working together in teams of up to three individuals to accomplish a series of missions, often involving gathering information or extracting data. Interestingly, stealth plays a significant role in the gameplay mechanics of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction as well.

If the concept behind Rainbow Six Extraction seems familiar, it’s because it’s derived from and shares many similarities with a specific temporary game mode in Rainbow Six Siege called Outbreak. Some people might even argue that it’s too similar. Despite being its own separate game, Rainbow Six Extraction retains many of the same operators (characters played by players), features, and skill sets found in the 2015 shooter. Given that both games are set in the same universe, this overlap is somewhat expected. However, the lack of fresh content in Extraction diminishes its long-term appeal and prevents it from truly distinguishing itself.

After its debut, Rainbow Six Extraction managed a good initial run, amassing over 3 million players across various platforms within the first week. However, just a few months down the line, the game’s player base plummeted drastically, leaving dangerously low numbers. Eventually, Ubisoft decided to discontinue support for Extraction less than a year after its launch. While opinions on the subject may vary, many believe that Extraction didn’t sustain its popularity due to insufficient content and excessive repetition in what little content it offered.

Project Maverick Needs to Stand Out from Project Maverick And Be Content-Rich At Launch

If it’s true that Ubisoft is developing Project Maverick, they must prioritize delivering a high-quality game at launch to prevent another scenario similar to Rainbow Six Extraction. Additionally, Ubisoft should strive to distinguish Project Maverick from its singleplayer counterpart, Project Blackbird. Merely reusing assets between the two games is acceptable, but if they share identical gameplay mechanics, abilities, and weaponry, they might feel repetitive. There are many pitfalls a Far Cry extraction shooter could fall into, as demonstrated by Rainbow Six Extraction, but hopefully Ubisoft can buck the trend by delivering a one-of-a-kind, content-rich game in the end.

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2024-12-25 20:03