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Ubisoft bags Far Cry rights

French publisher now sole owner of popular jungle shooter's game engine, intellectual property.

It's been a big week for the Far Cry franchise. Its publisher, Ubisoft, shipped the two latest installments in the series: the Far Cry Instincts Evolution expansion for the Xbox and Far Cry Instincts Predator for the Xbox 360, which combines both Evolution and the original Far Cry Instincts into a single next-generation game.

There was also some predation of the business kind on the Far Cry front. Ubisoft announced it has secured all rights to the first-person shooter series, which was created by German developer CryTek. Though financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, it covers both the intellectual property itself and "a perpetual license to use the CryENGINE Far Cry Edition." The graphics-intensive CryENGINE is the basis of all Far Cry games, the console versions of which were developed at Ubisoft Montreal.

Today's deal was seen as a preemptive measure to secure the popular license in the wake of CryTek's long-term development deal with megapublisher and Ubisoft-archrival Electronic Arts. The first game to be published under that agreement, the military sci-fi shooter Crysis, recently made waves at the Game Developers' Conference via an impressive PC demo. No release date has been announced for that game.

32 Comments

  • ChiefFreeman

    Posted Oct 15, 2011 12:11 pm GMT

    I was disappointed when this happened. The Ubisoft Far Cry games for the consoles paled in comparison to the original pc game, and Far Cry 2 was a letdown. Far Cry 3 is looking extremely promising, though. I have high hopes for it.

  • King_Louis51

    Posted Apr 1, 2007 8:51 am GMT

    After the absolutely astounding Rainbow Six: Vegas (i hated all Rainbow Six games until Vegas, and Vegas is now one of my favourite shooters ever), i have high hopes for the future of Far Cry. Good luck to them.

  • Cloud737

    Posted Dec 7, 2006 6:03 am GMT

    Hope this doesn`t mean future Far Cry games will stray away from it`s origins.

  • Cloud737

    Posted Dec 7, 2006 5:50 am GMT

    Hope this doesn`t mean future Far Cry games will stray away from it`s origins.

  • zux2000

    Posted Sep 27, 2006 5:58 pm GMT

    I hope my PC can make this add on... And when will it cooome

  • TheKretinousQ

    Posted Aug 17, 2006 1:41 am GMT

    Ubisoft time for Far Cry 2 on PC & 360!! Then we can savour the game in true next-gen rather then the limbo that it's in right now. Oh and if EA got the rights it would have somthin to do with need for speed or medal of honor because all EA can do is make half arsed action games.

  • DoctaStrangelov

    Posted Aug 14, 2006 8:46 am GMT

    This means no Far Cry Two, only sub-standard Xbox360 games.

  • killer774

    Posted Jun 30, 2006 9:49 am GMT

    you should make all parts of FarCry for pc, what took you so long.i wating it for long time mannnnnn.

  • fishheads111

    Posted Jun 23, 2006 3:26 pm GMT

    hmmm....im not sure what to think of this..but im glad EA and their grubby paws dont have it

  • n64nut

    Posted Apr 1, 2006 5:20 pm GMT

    Cool. At least it keeps the franchise away from EA for the time being. Now Ubisoft, go and make me Far Cry 2 for the PC! :p

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Mar 31, 2006 8:04 am GMT

    good for them. there isn't much left to get out of farcry though. have they not seen cryengine2??????

  • DrKill09

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 10:35 pm GMT

    I thought Ubisoft already owned Far Cry. I though Crytek gave them that after the first Far Cry on PC.

    FCI on the 360 has great multiplayer, btw.

  • NeoJedi

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 3:47 pm GMT

    Go Ubisoft Montreal! Can't wait for CrySis either.

  • UltimatumCHIEF

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 2:58 pm GMT

    Crysis is caming for Xbox 360...baby !

  • Kfoss

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 2:37 pm GMT

    Whaaa expansion packs?...i didnt know anything far cryish was comming out...wierd

  • dn3datomiced

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 2:30 pm GMT

    Ubisoft? Kill the series? They made the best entry in it so far. Besides, they've been hit-hit-hit with their IPs recently. King Kong may have been short, but I'll be damned if it wasn't a great ride. I'm happy to hear that Ubisoft is stepping up and providing competition with EA. EA just makes me angry whenever I see them buying up companies and properties to turn around and destroy the studios, like Westwood, among others.

  • doomsoth

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 12:36 pm GMT

    Dangit! Ubisoft is most likey going to kill the series. Crytek will go on to bigger and better things (crosses fingers).

  • Jxy

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 12:35 pm GMT

    Ubisoft has no talent when it comes to the Far Cry series, unfortunately. Instincts proved that. I absolutely love the original Far Cry, but Ubisoft's attempt was a huge disappointment.

  • Sagacious_Tien

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 12:34 pm GMT

    Hmm, the CryEngine is pretty good - it should have some good applications. Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon games could benefit. Even perhaps, Beyond Good and Evil (hopes)

  • Moltdar

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 12:29 pm GMT

    it's all good for me, i'm going to study at ubisoft Montreal and this means we might be able to publish our end-of-studies projects as stand alone games!!!

    and danmp18 yes Ubisoft can do a Farcry 2 on PC/consoles since it has all the rights to that engine and is currently also forming engineers to improve the engine for the needs of the projects being developped both in house and at their new campus.

  • sonic86

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 12:26 pm GMT

    Yeah I can finally right something!!! As for this bit of news, I can't wait to see what Ubi can do wiith this franchise.

  • pungaboy

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 12:16 pm GMT

    No, they got the rights for CryEngine: Far Cry Edition. So CryEngine2 is all EA.

  • Montrealien

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 12:10 pm GMT

    I'm confused, they own the rights to Cryengine and Cryengine2? cause Crysis is Cryengine2 and EA published.

  • tzulutions

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 12:07 pm GMT

    "Technically, Ubi has the rights to the Cryengine which is being used in CrySis, since the deal encompasses all intellectual property." SithLordKiller

    Actually NO. That post was carefully worded b/c Crysis will use the new CryEngine 2 not the old CryEngine "Far Cry version". So EA is still in the clear with this one. Too bad for Ubi - I always liked them.

  • danmp18

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 11:43 am GMT

    I'd like to see Far Cry 2 now with an all new engine for the next gen consoles.

  • VincentVega94

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 11:40 am GMT

    More competition for EA is great news for us. Companies need others to push them to put out better products. Just look at the EA-Madden disaster - without 2K games to push them, EA is just gonna put out the same Madden crap for the next 4-5 years.

  • atrimus

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 11:36 am GMT

    CryENGINE for Splinter Cell? sign me up...whenever the PS3 version is released.

  • SithLordKiller

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 11:23 am GMT

    Well, it's good that Ubisoft secured the rights however they are mentioning that it is all in the wake of Crysis being secured by EA. It will be interesting how this whole situation plays out. Technically, Ubi has the rights to the Cryengine which is being used in CrySis, since the deal encompasses all intellectual property.

  • american_in_pt

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 11:19 am GMT

    I wanna play Crysis!!! It looks sweet!!!

  • buildar

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 11:19 am GMT

    its all about having the right to buy and sell the IPs you develop. Its especially important for major publishers to own the IPs to their successful games.

  • paradyme777

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 11:18 am GMT

    Is this good or bad?? I'm in confliction right now?

  • SithLordKiller

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 11:18 am GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

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