Ubisoft, despite playing it safe with a lot of their properties and rehashing concepts on an annual basis, actually took a pretty big risk with Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, a cheap total conversion of Far Cry 3. The risk paid off... big time. The property has moved more than a million copies all by its lonesome and the success has piqued the interest of Ubisoft to potentially pursue a limited retail run for the game.
Speaking with Michael Futter from GameInformer, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot talked about a number of things, including the success of some of their smaller titles, including the sub-platform releases of games like Call of Juarez: Gunslinger and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.
As noted on Joystiq, Blood Dragon managed to move more than a million digital copies, although Guillemot didn't specify if that was across the Xbox 360, PS3 or PC or combined. We can assume they did equal numbers across all platforms, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ubisoft's arch-nemesis, the PC Master Race, pulled out ahead of the other two platforms in total sales.
Anyway, it was also noted that Blood Dragon could receive a limited retail run, with Yves commenting that...
"maybe we'll go retail at one point so we'll be able to achieve a bit more."
This would be a huge thing for the return of mid-budget games. One of the biggest problems in the industry right now is that you're either a bargain basement developer or an AAA, living-at-the-Ritz developer. Being able to diversify and distinctly create new IP with existing assets and technology is a great way to go.
As for Ubisoft also saying that over the next two years their expenses will increase... well, let's just hope they can offset those expenses with more lower and mid-budget games that allow developers to still bask in their creative juices without seeing it all drained and sucked up like a milkshake through a straw, only to be regurgitated into a shallow imitation of its former glory as an AAA cash-in.
For now, if you haven't played Blood Dragon on console or PC, you can pick up a digital copy of the first-person total conversion right now for only $14.99. If you need a little extra convincing that this is a game worth playing just check out the promo videos for the lower-budget project below, you won't be disappointed.
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