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  1. #1

    When did Far Cry 5 start developement?

    I feel like knowing that answer gives us a better idea about the scope of the game. Assuming producers don't work on 2 games at once, a couple of things can be assumed by looking at Linkedin accounts. 1st, that Primal was made between November 2014 to February 2016, a span of 15 months(1 year, 3 months). I pulled that number out based on Vincent Pontbriand's Linkedin profile. He's only been Senior producer on 2 games, AC Unity and Primal, and specifies he only began work on Primal in 2014 and that must be after Unity.

    2nd, Patrik Methe was the Game Director on Far Cry 3 and 4, so clearly he's trusted with the series. Moreover, since December 2014 he's been working on an unannounced title. That's a span of 2 years, 6 months(still ongoing) compared to 4's 2 years, 1 month and 3's 1 year, 11 months. So if he is working on Far Cry, this should be the biggest title in the series. What if it's an unannounced title? Well, according to Ubisoft's financial call they plan on releasing 4 AAA titles by March 2018. We know those 4 games are almost certainly AC:Origins, The Crew 2, Rabbids+Mario and Far Cry 5. So whatever Methe's working on has to be released this year to be considered an on time release
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  2. #2
    HorTyS's Avatar Senior Member
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    The only issue with your research is that I believe both of those guys work at Ubi montreal and Ubi toronto are the ones working on FC5 (though Montreal may be helping as toronto did with FC4 and primal) but toronto is the lead dev on FC5 to my understanding... look into Dan Hay who is the FC brand's executive producer and maybe check maxime beland as he is one of the higher up creative guys at ubi toronto. I'm kinda hoping clint hocking (creative director on FC2 and employee at Ubi toronto now) is involved...
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  3. #3
    Source on the Ubisoft Toronto lead? Also, Hay's linkedin says he based in Montreal. Maxime Beland is interesting as he is working on an unannounced project on and off for almost 4 years. However, based on Toronto Studio's size and recent work on Primal, Watch Dogs 2 and For Honor I have a hard time believing they can lead a game as big as Far Cry. I feel like Beland might be working on a new IP. Ubisoft hasn't shown the a high amount of patience with it's big franchises. It took AC Unity in 2014 destroying the brand reputation for them to get a 4 year cycle. So I highly doubt they'd give Beland 4 years for Far Cry starting in 2013
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  4. #4
    HorTyS's Avatar Senior Member
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    Originally Posted by Prabh1206 Go to original post
    Source on the Ubisoft Toronto lead? Also, Hay's linkedin says he based in Montreal. Maxime Beland is interesting as he is working on an unannounced project on and off for almost 4 years. However, based on Toronto Studio's size and recent work on Primal, Watch Dogs 2 and For Honor I have a hard time believing they can lead a game as big as Far Cry. I feel like Beland might be working on a new IP. Ubisoft hasn't shown the a high amount of patience with it's big franchises. It took AC Unity in 2014 destroying the brand reputation for them to get a 4 year cycle. So I highly doubt they'd give Beland 4 years for Far Cry starting in 2013

    Giant Bomb did a podcast
    and revealed it from a user who claimed to be a friend of a toronto dev, and the news has proven accurate. Dan Hay is based out of montreal but he is the lead executive producer of the far cry franchise, he is the guy involved in every game. the designers change, but it's always produced by Dan Hay, he is the "franchise shepard" if you will. Maxime's involvment was speculation on my part, he probably isn't involved since he already helped with FC4/ primal, so he's probably working on a full game of his choosing, I know he is high up at toronto so he probably has his pick of what he wants to work on there.

    Watch Dogs 2 & for honor were both made primarily in montreal, not toronto, toronto did help on watch dogs in a limited capacity, but toronto wasn't lead dev on either game, they did supplemental work on those games, so having 2 other full titles in development along some side work isn't out of the question. I'm pretty sure toronto has a couple hundred employees at this point, but montreal is even bigger.

    I guess it is possible that Toronto is still only helping on FC5 in a supplemental way, but I think they are in the lead on this one, hopefully working on it since after FC4 while the team in montreal made primal...
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  5. #5
    I don't know, dude. That statement comes out of an email from a guy that says "my friend works at Ubisoft Toronto". Toronto does mostly support(That's what I meant For honor, Primal, WD2) , so people would have knowledge about Far Cry 5 if they were doing support work. But the core people just seem to line up at the Montreal Studio which employs a gargantuan 3000+ people compared to Toronto's 400
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  6. #6
    HorTyS's Avatar Senior Member
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    You may be right, there is no indication that Toronto is lead, it was an assumption on my part that doesn't have much supporting evidence (maybe that saying about assumptions is more true than I thought). Toronto did make Splinter Cell Blacklist & I'm pretty sure they're working on another full-fledged title but it was wrong of me to assume they were lead on FC5 just because that is where the leaked info originated. It may have just been wishful thinking on my part as I know Clint Hocking is there and I wanted him to be involved with FC5....
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  7. #7
    mistados's Avatar Senior Member
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    I hope development started straight after FC4 so it's had a good amount of time. From Primal to now just seems way too short.
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  8. #8
    HorTyS's Avatar Senior Member
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    Originally Posted by mistados Go to original post
    I hope development started straight after FC4 so it's had a good amount of time. From Primal to now just seems way too short.
    This at least. I am also pretty curious who some of the higher ups are. If the lead studio is toronto, I'd want Clint Hocking involved, if it's back in Montreal.. I think the Creative Director of FC3 was named Patrick Plourde or something... he would be good to have back at the helm. I know Alex Hutchinson quit to start his own gig and the guy who was the main narrative guy works for EA now (motive seems to have poached a couple Ubi guys)
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  9. #9
    I think FC5 was started not along after FC4

    Primal wasn't made by the same team (the majority of the team anyway) that were involved in 3 & 4 and IMO they never would have risked putting all their eggs in one basket with Primal.
    So from that I reckon the usual team were making FC5 whilst Primal was in production and when being released. Primal was there to tick fans over and try something new whilst they focus on the main game (FC5)
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  10. #10
    mistados's Avatar Senior Member
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    So everything points to this game having a good amount of production time..fingers crossed!
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