Far Cry 6 is almost here, the product of many years of work. A new job listing suggests that Ubisoft's next project after Far Cry 6 is already underway, starting the game development cycle once again.
Making video games in any capacity is not easy, but games on the scale of the Far Cry franchise are especially difficult. Ubisoft is an international game development company with offices around the world, meaning hundreds of individuals are working on these games at a time. Mix into the development the litany of misconduct allegations fired at Ubisoft's executives, and the subsequent restructing of the company, it is incredible that projects of this magnitude are completed in the first place. Ubisoft usually releases a handful of games yearly, so it should not come as a surprise that it has begun working on its next project.
A new job listing at Ubisoft Toronto suggests the company is already underway on its next project after Far Cry 6. The position is for a full-time Narrative Director at the Toronto location, where they will "be at the helm of the creation of the embedded and emergent narrative elements that make up a living, breathing, reactive world." Ubisoft Toronto led the development of last year's Watch Dogs: Legion, and greatly contributed to the development of Far Cry 6. Although the listing does not specify what game this position is for, Ubisoft mentions that it is "also kicking off new projects" and excited to share more information eventually.
In the later sections of the post, Ubisoft describes the responsibilities of the Narrative Director position. Besides working with the creative and game directors to establish the vision of the upcoming game, and developing a team of writers, one of the duties is "research history, locations, and events to develop the game's narrative vision and underlying themes." There was controversey earlier this year, when the narrative director of Far Cry 6 clarified the game as being political after saying prior that the game was not a "political statement." It is not listed as a responsibility, but clearly the narrative director must understand and be able to defend their work as was the case here.
Although there is not a lot of information that clearly points to what this new project's identity is, there are some keywords that might help delineate it a bit. The previously mentioned responsibility quoted above details that the narrative director must do ample historical and geographical research while designing the game's narrative and scenario. This wording suggests a new Assassin's Creed title, or even much further down the line, the next Far Cry entry, as both series revolve around different worldly locations and, to varying degrees of accuracy, their histories. Considering that Assassin's Creed Valhalla's narrative director left Ubisoft earlier in 2021, this posting may just be that position.
Far Cry 6 launches October 7 for Luna, PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.