We’ve come a long way since the days of starting your stage at the beginning and simply running to the right until reaching the goal. Open-world (or “sandbox”) gaming has garnered huge prominence in today’s market. But how important is it really?
Creative Director of Far Cry 4 Alex Hutchinson believes linear titles are going to find the future much more difficult than in the past (pointing to social media like YouTube and Twitch as two big catalysts). “I’m really interested in emergent games and where that’s going with video sharing and Twitch. I think linear story games are really going to suffer in the modern marketplace.” Said Hutchinson.
Far Cry 4 will utilize many MMO style mechanics, turning the shooter into an open-world adventure. Hutchinson touts the sheer level of variety as another big reason why this style of play is more appealing to gamers in 2014. “If I open my friends list and see everybody on the same mission, doing the same thing… I think that’s nowhere near as strong a sales pitch as opening your friends list and seeing 40 people doing completely different things.” He says.
Far Cry 4 hits stores on November 18 th for the Xbox, PlayStation and PC.