The open-world first-person shooter is coming out this November

Sep 2, 2014 08:02 GMT  ·  By

Ubisoft's upcoming open-world first-person shooter Far Cry 4, the fourth installment in the series and the sequel to the 2012 hit Far Cry 3, will be spanning two generations of consoles, and Ubisoft explained that it was a tough decision to make.

While most gamers expected the upcoming episode in the popular open-world adventure game franchise to be next-gen only, developer and publisher Ubisoft decided to also make it compatible with the last generation of consoles, the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Given that the two new consoles have already sold more than 15 million units together, at last official tally, Ubisoft's approach might seem overly cautious, in hindsight.

"With the great reception Far Cry 3 received, we knew right from the early stages of Far Cry 4 production that we wanted to offer it on both generations of console," Game Director Patrik Méthé said to GamingBolt.

"The truth is, even though the team is very proud of what we achieved on FC3, we also had to make tough decisions toward the end and with the opportunity to come up with an even more ambitious title with FC4, we wanted all of our fans to have the chance to embark on this new adventure, whether they own PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One or PC," he explained.

It's certainly going to be interesting to see how Far Cry 4 manages to push the envelope of the genre on older consoles, and at the same time deliver a truly modern experience on newer ones, taking full advantage of the greatly superior processing power of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

The first-person shooter follows the story of Ajay Ghale, native to Kyrat, a fictional region in the Himalayas, returning home after many years, to scatter his mother's ashes. Kyrat is caught up in a turbulent civil war, as Pagan Min, an emerging despot, is struggling to seize the reins of power, and Ghale's expedition soon goes awry.

The game is said to be designed so that it corrects the main shortcomings in the previous installment in the series, with the gameplay and storyline always complementing each other, allowing players to immerse themselves in their role.

Far Cry 4 is scheduled to come out on November 18 in North America and Europe, and November 20 in Australasia, headed for the PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 platforms.

The month of November is going to be a busy one for Ubisoft, as the publisher is also releasing two more open-world video games, Assassin's Creed Unity, on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and Assassin's Creed Rogue, on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, in the same month.