Far Cry 4 cover art assumptions were “uncomfortable,” says Ubisoft

By Dave Cook

Far Cry 4 received a fair bit of flack after the shooter’s official cover art was revealed, with gamers accusing Ubisoft of racism, stereotyping and more. The game’s creative director Alex Hutchinson has explained why the assumptions are incorrect, and how gamer’s knee-jerk reaction to the art was “uncomfortable.”

It follows confirmation that new Far Cry 4 gameplay will be streamed here later today, June 24. Bookmark the link to watch it tonight.

Now, speaking with Eurogamer, Hutchinson elaborated on controversy surrounding the Far Cry 4 box art reveal, which he has already explained in some detail.

He addressed assumptions that the game’s villain – Pagan Min, the man in the purple suit – was white, and that the image of him placing a hand on his ethnic captive’s head was racist. He has already clarified that Pagan is not white, and that the captive man is not the player-character.

In fact, the player-character was revealed in this artwork to be Kyrat native Ajay Ghale, and in his Eurogamer interview he stressed that there’s perhaps about five white people in Far Cry 4, none of which are villains or people you fight against.

“It’s funny when there’s one picture out there and there are so many articles jumping to conclusions,” Hutchinson said of the uproar. “It would have been interesting for someone to ring us up. That would have been cool. For someone to say, ‘Hello. We think this. What’s actually happening?’

“That’s why I jumped on Twitter and was like, ‘He’s not white. That’s not the player. It’s more complex than that.’ So it’s been fun to see now that the video is out and more gameplay is out people are like, ‘Oh, okay. No big deal then.'”

On Pagan Min himself, Hutchinson said that while Ubisoft has been accused of stereotyping, he feels the assumption that the character was white is itself stereotypical. “This character is meant to be a melange of different things. He’s mixed race. The way he dresses is unique to him. It’s part of the character. It’s not a comment on gender or race at all.”

“As much as people want diversity, the weird crossovers are uncomfortable,” he added. “People were like, ‘Well he can’t be Asian because he has blond hair.’ It’s like, ‘Have you ever been to Korea?'”

What do you make of the Far Cry 4 racism and stereotyping matter? Is it even an issue? Let us know what you think below.