With the release of Far Cry 5, Ubisoft has evidently become the talk of the town once again. One week after its March 27 release date, the latest installment of the Far Cry franchise sold some $310 million worth of units with over half of these sales coming from digital purchases. For reference, this is more than double Far Cry 4's opening week sales figures and it represents the second largest launch for any Ubisoft game, beaten only by The Division's estimated $330 million opening week.
There is little doubt that Far Cry 5's subject matter helped boost the game's visibility drastically as it is one of the few modern games to tackle a relatively heavy topic- the rise of a heavily armed religious cult in the United States. In fact, people have watched more than 55,000 hours of gameplay on Twitch and Far Cry 5-related videos on YouTube garnered some 117 million views. That being said, Far Cry 5 has also been extremely well received so it's not like the game clawed its way to the top of a fairly uneventful gaming season on controversy alone. Seeing as how Far Cry 5's storytelling mechanics actually leave much to be desired, this speaks volumes about how robust the core gameplay is.
Of course, now that the honeymoon period is nearing its end, it's time to see what Ubisoft has in mind in terms of post-launch support. Naturally, there will be a set of paid DLC bundled into a handy-dandy season pass offer, but it is hard to say what kind of free content updates, if any, are being worked on. Given that Far Cry 5 lacks much weapon diversity and a New Game Plus feature, this might be a good chance for Ubisoft to ride the positive feedback train, at least until E3 comes around.
“I’m proud that the culmination of years of passionate work from the team is paying off, and that Far Cry 5’s experience resonates with so many people,” said Dan Hay, Executive Producer on Far Cry. “We are humbled by players’ reception of Far Cry 5 and fired up to keep growing and supporting the Far Cry community in the months and years to come.”
