Ubisoft confirms new Ghost Recon as it responds to Stop Killing Games petition

A new Ghost Recon game has been outed by Ubisoft, as it addresses its live service strategy moving forward.

Rainbow Six Siege and The Division might be the biggest Tom Clancy titles for Ubisoft today, but there was a time when Ghost Recon was also part of that conversation.

The tactical shooter series began in 2001, with a linear mission-based design where you command a squad of soldiers with different classes, but ever since 2017’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, the games have been set in an open world environment.

The last entry was 2019’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint which was a critical and commercial flop. There have been rumours of a new entry for years, but Ubisoft has never announced anything regarding the series’ future until now… sort of.

As highlighted by Game File, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot and CFO Frederick Duguet recently answered questions during its annual general shareholders’ meeting, where he referred to a new unannounced entry in the Ghost Recon series for the first time.

After Guillemot was asked about the publisher’s history of making live service games, he pointed to the success of Rainbow Six Siege, stating: ‘In addition to the flagship game that I just mentioned, our objective is to also make strong progress in the growing market, generally speaking, by continuing to enhance our current experiences that we offer – and capitalising on upcoming launches, such as The Division and Ghost Recon.’

His comments suggest Ghost Recon will be a live service project in some capacity. Ubisoft previously planned a live service entry in the series titled Ghost Recon Frontline, but it was cancelled in July 2022.

That cancellation came as a result of a fan revolt, complaining that it wasa Call Of Duty: Warzone style battle royale that had nothing in common with the original games. So turning the series into any kind of live service title doesn’t sound like it will go down any better with existing fans.

Duguet also brought up the subject of a new Ghost Recon later in the meeting, when asked about how Ubisoft plans to use its investment from Tencent, as part of the company’s new subsidiary.

According to Duguet, part of the investment will be ‘used for development of other major brand names. So we’ve got… Ghost Recon is just one example, for our first person shooter type games.’

It’s unclear if this means the next Ghost Recon will predominantly switch to a first person perspective. In Breakpoint, there was an optional first person view but it was mostly played from a third person perspective, so this might indicate a return to the series’ roots.

When asked about Guillemot and Duguet’s comments by Game File, a Ubisoft spokesperson said: ‘Ghost Recon is an important and beloved brand for Ubisoft and our players and we look forward to sharing more when the time is right.’

Elsewhere in the investors meeting, Ubisoft was asked about the petition Stop Killing Games, which is calling for regulation to stop modern games from being made inaccessible after a publisher cuts support.

Guillemot was asked about the petition – which was partially inspired by Ubisoft’s shut down of The Crew and has amassed over 1.4 million signatures – by an ‘aggressive questioner’.

‘Regarding the petition, we operate in a market,’ he replied. ‘And, whenever we release a game, we provide a lot of support for that game. We also provide a lot of services to make sure that the game is accessible and remains playable 24/7.

‘So, we provide information regarding the game and how long the game can be played. And players and buyers are forewarned that eventually the game may be discontinued.’

He added: ‘So this is an issue that we’ve been dealing with. But this kind of issue is not specific to Ubisoft. All video game publishers are faced with that issue.

‘You provide a service, but nothing is written in stone and at some point the service may be discontinued. Nothing is eternal. And we are doing our best to make sure that things go well for all players and buyers, because obviously support for all games cannot last forever.’

Ubisoft’s shut down of The Crew’s servers sparked legal action from disgruntled players. The company later announced plans to release offline modes for The Crew 2 and The Crew: Motorfest, which are set to be released later this year.

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