Summary
From the recent release of a 25th Anniversary Edition ofBeyond Good and Evil, and remakes of the firstSplinter CellandPrince of Persia: The Sands of Timein the works, Ubisoft has started to revisit its impressive back catalog of game IPs and a new report suggests it may be now doing the same withDriver. TheDriverseries was developed by Reflections Interactive - now called Ubisoft Reflections - and the first game in the series was notable for providing the freedom to explore a city map in 3D years before theGrand Theft Autoseries - which had a bit of afun rivalry withDriverin the early days - did withGTA 3.
At the timeDriverwas released in 1999 on the original PlayStation, theGrand Theft Autogames were still top-down, 2D titles, although comparisons were still made between the two at the time due to both having the freedom of driving around a large city.
It has been roughly a decade since players last saw anything from theDriverfranchise, with the release of the generally well-receivedDriver: San Franciscolaunching in 2011, alongside the critically panned Nintendo 3DS titleDriver: Renegade 3D, which took place between the events ofDriverandDriver 2, and a now-delisted mobile title calledDriver: Speedboat Paradisewas released in 2014. However,Game Filehas recently reported that while thelive-action streaming adaptationthat was set to be released on Binge has now been canceled, a Ubisoft spokesperson has revealed several projects are in the works, saying the following:
“We are actively working on other exciting projects related to the franchise and can’t wait to share more information in the future.”
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The Driver Franchise Was Mostly Well Received
Despite Some Low Points
Considering how well received theDriverfranchise was - barring some extremely low points likeDriv3r, and the handheld titlesDriver 76and the aforementionedDriver: Renegade 3D- it’s surprising that Ubisoft hasn’t done more with it since the last mainline release,Driver: San Francisco.San Franciscohad a genuinely unique premise, following the series' protagonist, John Tanner, as he is in a coma following a car accident, with players controlling his coma dream with the almost otherworldly “Shift” mechanic that lets players shift to any car at a given moment, and it sold generally well.
87
79
75
62
73
PlayStation 2
57
56
40
69
61
59
PlayStation 3
80
64
Nintendo 3DS
48
iOS, Android
54
The plot of the Wii version ofDriver: San Franciscois completely different from the other versions, serving as a prequel to the events of the originalDriverinstead.
It had previously been reported that Ubisoft’sWatch Dogswas initially supposed to be aDrivergamebefore being canceled and spun into its own standalone franchise, and there’s even a taxi mission app labeled “Driver SF” in the San Francisco-setWatch Dogs 2to reference the franchise that came before it, showing that while the series lay dormant for many years, Ubisoft hadn’t forgotten about it entirely.
Ubisoft’s statement about “future projects” is extremely vague and doesn’t acknowledge in what form theDriverseries will return, be it another attempt at an adaptation or a new game in the series. Despite this, it should at least give some hope to franchise fans who have been awaiting a return that Ubisoft’s acknowledged it and has some plans for its future.
