Far Cry 3 sales 'much higher than expected,' franchise to be one of Ubisoft's 'major pillars'

Publishers often save their biggest games for October and November, hoping to capitalize on pre-holiday shopping and Black Friday sales. Rarely does a AAA game come out in December--that's usually a time reserved for games sent out to die. However, Ubisoft made quite a curious move last year. It released Far Cry 3 on December 4, well after the holiday's heaviest hitters made their debut. Did the strategy work for them? Apparently.

According to new figures released by Ubisoft, the game has shipped over 4.5 million units, resulting in "a much higher-than expected performance." Ubisoft pointed out that it was the "highest-rated shooter" of 2012, which likely helped the game get quite a bit of traction. (It ranked #5 on Shacknews' Best of 2012 list.)

The success of Far Cry 3 means that it is now "one of the major pillars of our offering for core gamers." That means we can expect much, much more Far Cry in the future. CEO Yves Guillemot said that "we now have greater visibility in terms of future revenue and profitability for this franchise."

So thanks a lot, Virginia Woolf.