Games don’t always grab us. There are times where we pick up the newest titles everyone is talking about, or the continuation of a series that we’ve really enjoyed, and not felt compelled to play it. You might just have something else you like more at that moment, perhaps you’re busy, or maybe it’s not everything you dreamed of. In any case, we’ve all stopped playing a game here and there just… because. But players of Ubisoft’s new Far Cry 6 are surprised that if they’ve not played enough of the game, they’ll get an email mocking their efforts.
Far Cry 6 players are being judged on the number of hours they’ve spent in-game. Journalist Brendan Sinclair from GamesIndustry.biz put out a tweet commenting on how Ubisoft will “hassle” you if you haven’t spent enough time in-game to satisfy El Presidente. He tweeted: “A lot of games are already ruthlessly designed to maximize engagement, but now they email and hassle you if you dare to stop playing them.”
Here is our interview with Giancarlo Esposito about Far Cry 6...
The email pictured shows that in a marketing email, Ubisoft quotes Yara’s leader, Anton Castillo, mocking the player. It says: “Hola, Rojas. I wanted to thank you for giving me free rein in Yara. Take it easy, and know that Yara is in capable hands.” It also says “Surely you can do better than this” alongside the three hour playtime the account had.
And this has split opinion. There are many that don’t like the idea that Ubisoft and other game companies will try to bully you into playing more of a game that you might not be enjoying, and there are others that think it’s sort of cool.
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What isn’t explained in the original tweets is that this isn’t the only occasion on which players will be emailed. If you’re a player that has progressed a decent amount through the story, you’ll get emails from El Presidente with a different tone. For example: “You have taken two regions from me, guerrilla. But I will take it all back. I will remove you from history. No one will know your name.” This was for killing a total of 1331 NPCs. So everyone gets hassled by Anton it seems, you can’t get away from him in any circumstance.
This is obviously a PR move to remind players that there is a game right there that they’ve started and not finished. Whether it’s a good move or a bad one, that’s up to the player’s preference.
Featured Image Credit: Ubisoft
