Neither of the companies has made any statement regarding their participation in the disc-to-digital program on Xbox. However, since the program is still in its testing phase, it is also possible that both companies might join in once it is fully released to the general public, and have simply opted out during the testing phase to see how it plays out.

Microsoft had kicked off Insider testing for the disc-to-digital program for Alpha Skip, Alpha, and Beta channels earlier this month, and noted in its FAQs that users might be required to keep access to the physical copies of their games to provide evidence that they still qualify for the digital license.

“A disc-to-digital license is associated with the qualifying game disc. To maintain access to certain disc-to-digital licensing benefits, you may be required to demonstrate continued possession of the qualifying disc. For example, if you lose, sell, give away, or otherwise no longer possess a qualifying disc, access to associated disc-to-digital licenses may be limited or revoked.”

To help players keep track of which games are available through the disc-to-digital program, community-based efforts have been kicked off, with the stat-tracking website Xbox Collection Tracker having an entire page dedicated to keeping track of which games are supported.

Microsoft has also noted that discs will continue to work just fine even after they are used to get a digital license through the program. This means that players can potentially share physical copies of their Xbox One and Xbox Series X games with their friends and continue playing through their own digital license.

It is also worth noting that, at least for now, the disc-to-digital program doesn’t support Xbox and Xbox 360 games. However, considering the company’s emphasis on backwards compatibility over the last few years, support for older console games is likely just a matter of time.

There have been quite a few conversations happening in recent times on the subject of physical versus digital, especially thanks to Sony’s announcement that it would be ending production of new PlayStation discs in 2028. While Microsoft hasn’t made any such announcement itself, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had spoken about wanting to offer a choice to its users.

“I know players love physical media, and I know there are a lot of benefits in digital media, and I want to make sure people have a choice. There are stacks of games on everybody’s shelves. We’re announcing the ability for players for 1,000 titles with physical discs to be able to have a digital entitlement. We’ve long pioneered backwards compatibility, and so you’ll continue to see that as we go forward in the generations.”

“Bringing Agents together across platforms has required significant work behind the scenes, including partially rebuilding the game’s online architecture. With crossplay, your platform will no longer stand between you and other Agents, opening up matchmaking and allowing more of the community to play together.”

When the update hits, all The Division 2 players will be migrated to the new crossplay environment, and the feature will be enabled by default. Players will, however, have the option to disable crossplay in the character selection screen. When it’s enabled, players will be able to run into Agents from all supported platforms, as long as they haven’t disabled it.

Clans will also be migrated to crossplay, and players from across various platforms will be able to join the same clan. Along with this, capacity for clans has been raised from 50 to 100 members. When the migration happens, leaderboards will be completely reset, and new leaderboards will be shown with the player’s crossplay status also being reflected.

Another major announcement is the next expansion for The Division 2. Dubbed Echoes of Central Park, the expansion will once more take players to New York City. In the days immediately following the outbreak, Central Park started being used as a mass burial ground. Since then, however, few have dared to go back to the park, and its current status remains unknown.

The story will kick off with players getting a distress call from somewhere inside the park. Along the way, players will also hear rumors from across the Upper West Side about the dangers inside the park.

The developers have said that Echoes of Central Park will lean into a darker atmosphere than The Division 2 typically has, and the new zone will be a place “where fear can be just as dangerous as any enemy.”

More details about Echoes of Central Park will be revealed at a special showcase slated for September 24th. The developers will also showcase some of the gameplay from the expansion, and will likely provide an in-depth look at the new zones being added to the game.

The most recent update for The Division 2 was dubbed Into the Dark, and as its name implies, content largely revolved around the game’s PvPvE areas, dubbed Dark Zones. The update introduced quite a few changes to these areas, like an invulnerability window for Agents who just enter, and better rewards in Landmarks.

Along with this, a new Toxic Dark Zone area was added to the game, allowing for up to 12 players to team up together. This new zone has no PvP or Rogue Agents, and revolves around co-operating to survive increasing amounts of toxicity in the hunt for better loot.

Considering the Spanish origins of the song, there are many hints throughout the level of the country’s culture. Along with this, we also get some hints of Mexican culture, including a massive luchador hanging out in the background and doing the iconic dance, his hands even acting as platforms to run and jump across when he opens them up.

Along with entirely new visuals that were built from the ground up, Rayman Legends Retold also features quite a bit of new content, like a new world filled with its own levels and four new musical stages. Aside from Macarena, the new musical stages are also set to include MC Hammer’s Can’t Touch This.

Technical director Thibaut Assandri had confirmed back in June that the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the remake would run at 60 FPS, with 4K resolution when the console was docked. Assandri spoke about the value of technology like DLSS that allows for lower-resolution rendering targets that can be expanded on to larger displays through AI-based image upscaling.

Rayman Legends Retold is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 on October 1st.

There’s a familiar threat back to keep Rainbow Six on its toes, and with fifteen operators with unique skills and gear at your command, and a bunch of missions in which you get to use them to their full potential to chase down distinct upgrade paths, there’s a lot to like about this one. It’s a single-player experience, which is a shame, as we’d have loved to bring our buddies along for the mission. Nevertheless, it’s a great way to flex your brains and your brawn after a long day once it’s out.

As for that, it’s been confirmed for a 2027 release, but there’s little else to say about it on that front. It’s open for wishlisting on Ubisoft+, which might encourage you to speculate on available platforms. As always, we’d advise waiting for an official announcement insted of getting your hopes up, although the trailer below is a good enough reason to disregard our advice.

But the mechanical foundations of its gameplay loop were definitely interesting back then, and have since made it quite a popular title in the illustrious franchise’s lineup. Indeed, it’s popular enough to warrant a free update that brings a graphical bump to the familiar game while adding an entirely new mission, complete with an antagonist who makes even El Sueño seem harmless by comparison?

But is it enough of a celebratory nod to 25 years of Ghost Recon? Does the new update make Wildlands feel more current-gen than the original version? Can the return of the Predator event be enough to put The Ghosts back in the limelight? Probably not, and that’s a shame.

Let’s get the new 4K/60 fps update out of the way early. Yes, it makes the graphics quite smooth while the visuals received a nice upgrade. Lighting and reflections look a lot better, although low-light situations do become problematic, a flaw I’m going to touch upon again a little later. However, the pop-in from the original release, along with character models and textures that look very outdated by modern standards, make it obvious that this one’s a last-gen title on a current-gen system.

However, the one upside here is that my base PS5 managed 60fps even in intense firefights and other resource-heavy situations, allowing for a very smooth experience and markedly better gunplay thanks to how much easier aiming is when there are more frames in play. I only wish that the load times had been better optimised, as getting in and out of the action took long enough for me to notice, which is saying something today.

Of course, the new Last Rites mission is the star of the show and its premise is interesting enough. Taking around one to two hours to finish, Last Rites is accessible directly from the main menu with no prerequisites. It sees the Ghosts return to Bolivia, where a new handler presents them with a fresh target: La Llorona. She’s a feisty one, and presented as an antagonist so unhinged, putting her out of her misery almost feels like a mercy. Of course, she’s inspired so much zealous fervor within her ranks that getting to her requires some meticulous work. Well, the Ghosts have never walked away from a challenge now, have they?

"The Ghosts return to Bolivia, where a new handler presents them with a fresh target."

The story has the twists and turns you’d come to expect from a Ghost Recon title, although one of them came early enough for it to feel like quite a curveball, and in a good way. Things are presented to you on the go just like in the base game, and you’re going to be spending your time traversing the new sub-region this mission’s locked into, with new information being presented to you with each objective you complete. It’s interesting, and definitely among the highlights of the update for me. It’s well-placed, well-written, and definitely more than capable of holding my interest.

The voice acting is effective, while the presentation feels a little too similar to the rest of the game to stand out. That the main Campaign’s fight against Santa Blanca only receives a passing mention is probably a good thing, since it frees this side chapter from having to force references to events from the rest of Bolivia into the fray. It helps keep Last Rites focused on its antagonists, and that’s a very good thing given that they come across as a viable threat.

However, the objectives themselves are nothing more than an excuse to send you from one place to the next, with armed compounds you must infiltrate to either collect intel yourself or perhaps send your drone to eavesdrop on a high-ranking member of La Llorona’s organization. Good luck finding something important in the dark, though. The low light performance was a serious downer, making it very annoying to navigate indoor environments.

You get to take the same vehicles that the base game offered, while some of them come with cool paint jobs to add a bit of celebratory flair to things. Of course, driving those vehicles is as frustrating as it’s ever been with their tendency to wildly oversteer and spin out of control at even the slightest bit of hard turning. What’s even more annoying is that dying or failing an objective respawns you at a considerable distance away, forcing you to endure another round of frustrating driving to return to where you were.

It’s slightly disappointing that a story that’s quite intriguing isn’t backed up by gameplay that matches it. Lackluster objectives are joined by an enemy AI that remains largely unchanged from the rest of the game, along with stealth options like Sync Shot that can let you command your teammates to just clear entire patrols without a single one of them being any the wiser. That thing seriously needs a nerf on its cooldowns given how it trivializes a lot of the game. Is it fun? Hell, yeah! Is it anything we haven’t already seen in Wildlands? Sadly no.

"The default setting is probably more than enough for casual players, but the more hardcore Ghosts amongst you are going to appreciate what’s on offer and how it makes things more demanding if that’s how you push your sliders."

I found myself tearing through missions on both Arcade and Normal, while greater difficulty options turned the tables on me more often than not. Of course, the new customization options are most welcome, letting you tweak everything from enemy behaviour and damage values to weapon restrictions, friendly fire, weather, and HUD elements until you’ve shaped the experience into something that feels just right for you. The default setting is probably more than enough for casual players, but the more hardcore Ghosts amongst you are going to appreciate what’s on offer and how it makes things more demanding if that’s how you push your sliders.

Enemy aggression and awareness are pretty great, although I’d say that it’s a very familiar AI given how many times we’ve seen it before. Wildlands might have been good for its time, but it’s too lacking by modern standards to make this free update do any wonders. Yes, the returning Predator event should give you a few more hours of fun, but it’s essentially as good now as it was then, and there isn’t much more to say about it.

As far as the free update goes, you’re getting a visual bump, a new standalone mission, customization options, and not really much else. Last Rites is definitely good enough to make Wildlands veterans come back to Bolivia for a time, but can it make them stay? That depends on how addictive they found the original base game. But for new players, if you weren’t already sold on Wildlands, it isn’t likely that Last Rites is going to work any miracles.

As a part of a game that’s still listed as a PS4 title, it’s probably worth taking advantage of the trial weekend to just dive into Wildlands and get through it if you don’t own a copy of the game. The current PlayStation Store discount is also quite tempting if Ghost Recon is something you’ve enjoyed over the years, or are curious about trying out. But as a purchase, it isn’t something I can recommend wholeheartedly in a world where titles like Ready or Not make for far better experiences.

Last Rites is enough of a firework show to mark a milestone that many other franchises in modern gaming would be envious of. But other than that, it isn’t much more than an interesting side chapter in Bolivia, far removed from Santa Blanca while retaining the main campaign’s limitations, and that’s probably its biggest weakness. It’s still fun if you’re playing it for free, though.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

The free update also adds tons of new customization options, including sleeve tattoos, helmets, backpack patches, paint jobs, and much more. Furthermore, the Predator mission, where the Ghosts take on the intergalactic hunter, has returned.

The update also brings several quality-of-life changes and improvements. For instance, Ghost Parameters are now available in other PvE modes. This means you can enable authentic reloading, friendly fire and a choice between one or two primary weapons. In addition to removing various UI elements, the glow on crates and throwable item previews can be turned off.

It’s also possible to change the time of day and set the weather, enabling the perfect conditions for a stealth op. Difficulty levels have also been changed to presets which can be tweaked, allowing you to modify enemy firepower and detection time (among other settings) on a granular basis.

There’s a lot more, and new players can play for free until August 10th with progression carrying over.

“Thrilled to share some exciting news,” Guesdon wrote in a LinkedIn post (via machine translation). “After an incredible professional journey, including 16 years at Ubisoft and then leading the critically acclaimed Dead Space remake at EA Motive, Eric Baptizat is coming back to the Assassin’s Creed family as our new Game Director for the brand.”

“Eric needs no introduction in this universe. 16 years at Ubisoft, key contributions to Black Flag, Origins, and Valhalla as Game Director, his passion for gameplay craft and his deep connection to this franchise speak for themselves. Seeing someone with his expertise, his rigor, and his collaborative spirit step into this role fills me with confidence and, honestly, a lot of excitement for what’s ahead for the brand. Welcome back, Eric. We’re so glad to have you home.”

What this means for the Assassin’s Creed franchise in the longer term remains to be seen. Ubisoft hasn’t yet officially unveiled any of its new games, and has only just confirmed two are in the works – Codename Hexe and Codename Jade. Of the two, the former is believed to be a major game being developed for PC and consoles, and is the likely candidate for the next big release.

A recent rumor has indicated that Codename Hexe will feature a “large-scale” map that, while offering plenty of room for exploration, will still be quite linear. To aid with the exploration, reports have indicated that the player’s movement will be quite fluid, and even “more advanced than ever before.” There are also believed to be a few mystical elements in the game in some “shape or form”.

A core narrative theme of Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe is believed to revolve around the German Witch Trials, during which players will take on the role of a new character named Anika. The visual style will reportedly be “dark and a lot better than Shadows.”

“They have taken the negatives from Shadows and turned it into a masterpiece designed to bring your attention. When Ubisoft said it was dark, it is,” said known leaker RogueTx.

The most recent entry in the franchise was Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, which was released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S last month. The development team has continued to provide post-launch support with plenty of patches, with a recent one allowing players to hide the blowpipe from Edward Kenway’s body.

As its name might imply, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is a remake of 2013’s Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, which was originally developed for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The title takes place during the Golden Age of Piracy, with players taking on the role of Edward Kenway – a pirate who finds himself caught in a web of conspiracies between the Assassins and the Templars. For more details, check out our review.

In a turn of events that shouldn’t be surprising to anyone paying attention to the games industry, Fortnite has taken the number one spot across PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. On the PlayStation side of things, the top 5 aside from Fortnite include NBA 2K26, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Roblox, and Grand Theft Auto 5 Remastered. Xbox, on the other hand, features Roblox, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto 5 Remastered, and Minecraft in its top 5.

“Each list had exactly one new game reach the top 20. The rest were mostly long-running live service or annualized sports titles,” acknowledged Piscatella. “This is just the PS/XBX market right now.” In another post, he noted that the current market leads to “thousands of other games that come out every year fighting for the attention of a relatively small enthusiast portion of the total player base.”

As we get deeper in both lists, we continue to see the trend of older live-service titles, like Apex Legends and Rocket League. There are a few exceptions to be seen, however. Palworld’s recent 1.0 release likely played a large role in letting it breach the top 20 list, for instance. Similarly, on Xbox, Destiny 2 has managed to climb up to number 19. Curiously, the Xbox list also included Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, which is entirely missing from the PS5 side. Shift at Midnight’s absence from PlayStation’s list, on the other hand, is more understandable due to it simply not getting released on the platform.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls‘ presence on the PS5 list also represents an interesting data point, since the game hasn’t yet been released, and was only available for a single weekend.

It looks like Steam is the only one of the three platforms to offer a more diverse list of the most-played games. Palworld currently sits at the top of the list, followed by Counter-Strike 2, Battlefield 6, Slay the Spire 2, and Marvel Rivals rounding up the top 5. Further in, we also get to see titles like the indie hit Meccha Chameleon before more live-service games like Helldivers 2, Destiny 2, and Rocket League come in. The presence of Valve’s Deadlock is also noteworthy, since it is still an invite-only game that hasn’t yet been officially released to the public.

Seeing lists like this that are broadly dominated by live-service games goes a long way in explaining the reasoning behind companies chasing similar trends, even if they happen to fail. We last saw this with Sony’s push towards live-service games, which ultimately culminated in a lack of new game releases, the cancelation of several projects, and even some studios being shuttered.

"Surely expanding the list to 20 would show plenty of new games"Well. Sure. Each list had exactly one new game reach the top 20. The rest were mostly long running live service or annualized sports titles.This is just the PS/XBX market right now.

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-08-03T15:44:17.812Z

Circana Player Engagement Tracker – US Top 10 Titles by Weekly Active Users (Not Concurrent) – W/E Jul 25, 2026- Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls debuted 17th on PlayStation- Shift at Midnight ranked 17th on Xbox in launch week- Path of Exile jumped to 19th on Steam from 119th a week ago

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-08-03T14:30:28.614Z

Aside from the blowpipe issue, the patch also brings in a variety of bug fixes and improvements for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, ranging from a larger number of autosave slots to UI glitches when using mouse and keyboard, and even a number of bugged quests where NPC characters would either glitch out or remain in low-quality mode. Check out the full patch notes below for more details.

Game director Richard Knight had previously spoken about the team’s plans to offer long-term support for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. In an interview, he acknowledged that while he couldn’t officially commit to anything, he noted that year-long support “doesn’t feel like a crazy bet.”

“We need to, you know, fix bugs. Sorry for anyone running into bugs, uh, they hurt – they’re painful for us, too. And we do want to add some quality-of-life stuff. So, I mean, it’s a pretty reasonable guess.”

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced was released across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S in July, and has proven to be incredibly successful, having sold more than 3.5 million copies in fourteen days. For more details, take a look at our review. Also check out our thoughts about why it shows what really went wrong with the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Title Update 1.0.6 patch notes:

General

• Increased number of autosaves from 5 to 10 to allow players to load from earlier progressions.
• Fixed an issue on PC where Cutscenes could be locked at 30 FPS when Graphics settings were set to ‘custom’ from any ‘Low’ presets.
• Added missing tutorial on how to ‘Throw Money’.
• Fixed an issue where DLC Pack notifications could appear at the start of a new game.
• Fixed an issue where Edward could start sliding right after fast travelling to a synchronized viewpoint while sprinting and jumping down.
• Fixed an issue on PC for Mouse & Keyboard where Quest icon could be marked/unmarked when selecting the Quest tab.
• Fixed an issue where players did not receive a purchase confirmation message for Resource Packs.
• Fixed an issue where players could be unable to parkour while holding down RT after remapping RT to sprint.
• Fixed minor crashes that could happen during Ground and Naval fights.
• Fixed an issue where Edward’s hood could not be toggled during the Leap of Faith.

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where players could be unable to perform leg sweeps on enemies in an ‘attentive’ or ‘suspicious’ state.
• Fixed an issue where the Brute Elites were sometimes not charging towards the player.
• Fixed an issue that could occur when players tried to hire dancers while on top of a box.
• Fixed an issue where “Quick Use Rope Dart” may no longer be usable when interrupted by an enemy attack or after a rope dart hang.
• Fixed an issue where players were sometimes unable to assassinate drunk pirates in smoke after entering combat with them.
• Fixed an issue where Enemy ships sometimes did no damage when ramming the Jackdaw at certain angles.
• Fixed an issue where dead bodies on benches could be looted/carried after loading a save file.
• Fixed delayed reaction from guards upon seeing a hanging dead body.
• Fixed an issue where Edward wasn’t always turning to look at where he was aiming in a Naval battle.
• Fixed an issue where Edward could trigger a takedown while vaulting over the enemy.
• Fixed an issue where the Naval Convoy’s leader could go flying after lowering wanted level or sending it to Kenway’s fleet during Boarding.

World

• Fixed an issue where players may get stuck when attempting to parkour between a tree and a wall in Kingston.
• Fixed an issue where players could ‘Fast Travel’ to an unsynchronized viewpoint in Havana.
• Fixed an issue where there was no warning message displayed when trying to fast travel to a captured fort while in a restricted area.
• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in free fall when climbing behind the chest at Mariguana Island.

Progression & Economy

• Fixed an issue where the Kraken wheel cost was listed incorrectly / the Kraken wheel is wheely expensive.
• Fixed an issue where ‘The Benjamin’ ship codex unlocked at a later quest.

UI/Menu

• Updated font for Simplified Chinese to allow for better readability.
• Fixed an issue where players may become soft-locked when switching to the Map tab while visualizing a Codex entry.
• Fixed alignment issues when language was set to Arabic.
• Fixed an issue where Ally ship icons were displayed
• Fixed an issue where the Vision Preset’s enabled black background for objectives remained on during Modern Rifts.

Visuals & Graphics

• Fixed multiple animation issues.
• Fixed minor ragdoll issues.
• Fixed multiple camera issues during assassinations.
• Fixed lighting issues while underwater.
• Fixed visual gaps present in the Fort wall of Nassau.
• Fixed Enemies’ blood coming out from hips instead of chin during the pistol finishing kill
• Fixed visual issues in Tavern Brawl with knocking out enemies near tables and chairs.
• Fixed clipping issues with the cape of ‘Hellion Armor’ when there are strong winds.
• Fixed issues where PSSR was not properly enabled if the same account was used first on PS5 and then on PS5 Pro

Localization

• Fixed incorrect localization of “Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced” on all platform packages in Simplified Chinese.
• Fixed incorrect localization of the Trophy/Achievement “Ed the Diver” in Simplified Chinese.

Audio

• Fixed various missing audio issues.
• Fixed missing audio for when a normal guard blocked melee attacks from the player.
• Fixed an issue where the Hideout’s watermill audio would be played after entering and exiting the menu despite the Hideout’s Garden not being unlocked.
• Balanced certain dialogues in Simplified Chinese to be more audible.

SPOILERS AHEAD! 

Quests

• “Overrun and Outnumbered”: Fixed an issue where James Kidd remained idle if the player skipped the cutscene and quickly used a “Sleep Dart” on an enemy.
• “Delirium”: Fixed an issue where the sails could be seen floating when swimming up.
• “Traveling Salesman”: Fixed an issue where low-quality civilian models could be observed if the player skipped through the cutscene.
• “Vainglorious Bastards”: Fixed an issue where the “Royal African Ship” could sometimes sink after the cutscene.
• “A Second Chance”: Fixed an issue where Edward could fast travel to the Jackdaw while carrying food, which may cause the food to disappear.
• “Mayan Mysteries”: Fixed an issue where the “Mayan Armor” could not be obtained due to missing a Mayan stone that was obtained before “Overrun and Outnumbered” quest.
• “A Cockalorum”: Lucy will sometimes go out of hiding during ‘Reach the villa’ objective.
• “The Sage’s buried secret”: Fixed an issue where James Kidd could get stuck if the player blocks his route up the rocks.
• “What the Devil!”: Fixed an issue where players could unintentionally clear the objective “Board the HMS Demolition” as Edward.
• “Templar Ships”: Fixed an issue where players could remain stuck in combat if they were detected by enemies while eavesdropping on civilians.
• “Upton Travers”: Fixed an issue where the objective to ‘Kill Upton’ was missing after loading a save file.
• “Diving for Medicines”: Fixed an issue where players could lose autosave files if they participate in “Uptown Travers” during the main quest.
• Fixed an issue in certain quests where enemies did not react accordingly if inflicted by sleep/berserk dart while following another person.
• Fixed an issue where on Black Island, “Morgan’s Treasures” and “Midnight Moonshine” could sometimes remain unavailable to players.

While few details about Kodiak have been revealed, the report describes it as being a game where “player interactions and player-driven stories take center stage,” which indicates that emergent gameplay will be the title’s primary focus. The project seemingly only exited its concept stages earlier this month, with the previously-rumored project Maverick forming its core foundations. However, it looks like the extraction shooter elements are being left behind. Generally speaking, the report describes Kodiak as a “really ambitious” project, and notes that it won’t be coming out any time soon.

Previous reports about Maverick indicated that the constant ticking of time would serve as one of its primary themes. According to Ubisoft leaker RogueTx, Maverick’s main narrative would revolve around the player needing to rescue their six family members under a strict 72-hour time limit. It was also described as featuring fauna like grizzly bears, wolves, foxes, and deer, which would serve as obstacles as well as potential sources of valuable crafting materials. Along with this, it was described as featuring safe houses and a weapon durability mechanic that would require players to actively care for their weapons.

Back in May, yet another report featured an alleged audio clip from Maverick, which featured synth-styled music with heavy beats and constant ticking. The clip was accompanied by a picture of what appeared to be key art from the shooter, indicating that its core setting would be Alaska.

Aside from a single statement by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, the company has largely been quiet about the Far Cry franchise. Back in February, Guillemot said in an interview that the company was working on on “two very promising projects”, as well as several entries in the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

The last entry in the franchise was 2021’s Far Cry 6, released on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The title revolved around the Caribbean island of Yara, with players taking on the role of guerrilla fighter Dani Rojas and opposing local dictator Antón Castillo, played by critically acclaimed actor Giancarlo Esposito. While earlier parts of the story revolve around Dani trying to escape from the island, the player is quickly drawn into fighting back against the dictator and supporting the ever-growing revolutionary forces.

Before this, Ubisoft released Far Cry 5 in 2019, putting players in the shoes of a rookie Junior Deputy tasked with taking down the cult Project at Eden’s Gate in Hope County, Montana. The title was followed-up with a narrative sequel dubbed Far Cry: New Dawn in 2019, taking place after one Far Cry 5’s apocalyptic ending 17 years after its story. Both games were released on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.