Far Cry 7 coming in 2026, to shake up formula with 72-hour Majora's Mask countdown clock

Ubisoft is reportedly taking cues from an old-school Nintendo classic with its new Far Cry game.

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Ubisoft is currently working on two new Far Cry games, sources tell Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson. The publisher is developing a mainline franchise entry, known among gamers as Far Cry 7 and internally codenamed Blackbird, and a new multiplayer-based extraction shooter that's codenamed Maverick. Both games have apparently been pushed back from their original 2025 schedule to a 2026 launch.

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal and created in Massive Entertainment's proprietary Snowdrop Engine (the franchise shifted from the previous Dunia engine over to Snowdrop), Blackbird, aka Far Cry 7, will feature an interesting new gimmick for the series: A countdown clock.

Sources tell Insider Gaming that players will have 72 hours to rescue their family from certain doom at the hands of a crazed cult. This is reminiscent of the Nintendo 64 classic Majora's Mask, whose moon brought looming dread with its doomed countdown.

Far Cry 7 is also said to have new-and-improved locomotion/traversal systems and physics mechanics that emphasize speed, sliding, vaulting, and general quick traversal.

Ubisoft has yet to announce or confirm the new Far Cry games. Investors would likely be interested to know what's on the horizon but now may not be the best time to reveal a bunch of games that may end up being cancelled given Ubisoft's current financial position.

Right now all eyes are on the publisher's big new Assassin's Creed Shadows game. Shadows was delayed from its critical holiday 2024 launch to February 2025 to give developers more time to iron out the kinks. As a result, Ubisoft's projected earnings were slashed and its share prices also fell with the news.