Far Cry 5 Will Feature Drop-In Co-Op, but There's a Major Catch

Game Rant

By Rory Young

Published Jun 30, 2017

Ubisoft confirms that, while Far Cry 5 does feature 2-player online campaign co-op, there is no shared progress and only the host's progress is saved.

Ubisoft expounded on Far Cry 5's drop-in drop-out co-op today, noting that it won't be as functional as some players may have been expecting. Specifically, Far Cry 5 will allow a secondary player to join another person's game, but the secondary player will receive no mission progress as a result. In order to progress, the player will have to return to their own game and either play solo or host a friend themselves.

Co-op in Far Cry 5 was revealed alongside the game's official announcement, confirming that two players could play together through the entirety of the game's campaign. Cooperative play would be based entirely online, with no local options available.

This mirrors the same functionality as Far Cry 4, which also offered 2-player co-op in the game's campaign. Far Cry 3 offered up to 4-player online co-op, but only for specific non-campaign content. Far Cry Primal, however, offered no co-op whatsoever.

So in the grand scheme of things, Far Cry 5 could have done a lot worse with regards to cooperative multiplayer options. It also could be doing a whole lot better, offering both 4-player co-op and/or local co-op on top of its current system.

Not allowing progress to be shared between players is a frustrating omission, though understandable given the franchise hasn't included it yet. Yet at least some of Ubisoft's community are focusing on the topic due to it growing increasingly prevalent in other games.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands, a Ubisoft published game which was released just months ago, includes shared progress between partners and has drop-in, drop-out support. In all fairness, it's unreasonable to expect Ubisoft share functionality across all its games, but there's at least a point to be made.

Modern gaming places increasing priority on online functionality for games, largely due to monetization but also because multiplayer keeps players active and invested longer. Ubisoft is at the forefront of this practice with games like For Honor and Rainbow Six: Siege. The ability to play Far Cry 5 cooperatively is a gift for a lot of players, and the lack of shared progress is a frustration, but players will find a workaround. Yet hopefully creating a dialogue regarding what co-op players would like from this feature encourages Ubisoft to revisit its decisions in the future.

Far Cry 5 is scheduled to launch on February 27 in 2018 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.