Far Cry 6 surely was an eagerly anticipated game: the latest entry in the long-running Far Cry franchise of action games. Set in the fictional country of Yara, an island nation obviously based on Cuba, the game has players joining a rebel group which aims to overthrow the corrupt government of a dictator, who’s played by actor Giancarlo Esposito of The Mandalorian fame.
And as expected, the game sold well both in its debut week and second week on sale, coming at number 2 both weeks in the UK charts.
In its second week, the game is behind Electronic Arts’ world-conquering FIFA 22, and one step above Nintendo Switch game Metroid Dread.
According to Gamesindustry.biz (via metro.co.uk), sales of Far Cry 6 were down 66 % relative to the first week, despite the game keeping its number 2 in the UK charts.
The game, though, is clearly not doing as well as its predecessor, 2018’s Far Cry 5, as physical sales of the game are down 14 % after two weeks in the market. More worrying for Ubisoft should be the fact that digital sales are down a whopping 50 % when compared to Far Cry 5, which was set in the US state of Montana and pitted players against a cult run by a religious fanatic.
The sharp drop in sales is not so surprising though: when it comes to quality, Far Cry 5 is simply the better game as evidenced by its Metacritic score of 81 on PS4, while Far Cry 6 has an aggregate score of 75 on Metacritic for the PS5 version of the game.
Far Cry 5 also had the advantage of its American setting and it pitting the player against a doomsday cult based on white supremacist groups, something which resonated with gamers at the height of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Also, there’s the fact that despite a few changes and additions, Far Cry 6 is more of the same, offering the same open-world gameplay as its predecessor.
Actually, this latest entry in the franchise is structured the same way as Far Cry 5, as once you leave the game’s tutorial island you’ve got to contact several different rebel groups in each of Yara’s (the island where the game is based) major regions, and take down Antón Castillo’s lieutenants in each before squaring off with the villainous dictator in his stronghold, located in the capital city of Esperanza.
Nobody can blame Ubisoft for structuring Far Cry 6 like Far Cry 5, though, as the latter is the best-selling game in the franchise to date (and Ubisoft’s best-selling game overall too) having sold about 25 million copies.
More of the same is more of the same nonetheless, and some people might have been burned out by the Far Cry gameplay formula by now, which Ubisoft has been iterating on for almost ten years now (since Far Cry 3 came out in 2012 actually).
Far Cry 6’s sales seem to be holding steady nonetheless: it remains in the number 2 spot in its third week in the market according to Games Industry, and if it manages to stay near the top spots it may join the exclusive club of Ubisoft games which have sold 10 million copies or more.
It may not do as well as Far Cry 5, but if Far Cry 6 can match Far Cry 4’s sales than there’s no way this game can be considered a failure for Ubisoft.
There’s also more Far Cry content coming this year as part of Far Cry 6’s season pass, which includes three DLC episodes in which you play three of the series’ top villains and a remaster of the classic Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon game to look forward too.
Plus rumors earlier this year suggest that Ubisoft will go in a radically different direction with the next Far Cry game, so it’s clear that even if Far Cry 6 is a mild disappointment this is a franchise that will still be around for a very long time to come.