Far Cry 3 "does not support dedicated servers," says Ubisoft
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Posting on the official forums (via PCGamesN ), Ubisoft community manager Henrik "Vextor" Johansson revealed Far Cry 3's multiplayer "does not support dedicated servers."
"Of course, we aren't trying to kill the PC community," Johansson added to the rapidly ballooning thread. "We've simply decided on a different way of handling multiplayer. We weighed the different options against each other to see what worked best, and what we came up with worked very well even without dedicated servers."
Far Cry 3's multiplayer employs a matchmaking system akin to Call of Duty's peer-hosted sessions. While the debate between dedicated hosting and player-driven matchmaking remains firmly embedded in subjective interpretation, clear differences exist—a server, for example, eliminates tricky latency issues by being hosted at fixed locations for local players to enjoy stronger connections.
Johansson also stated piracy didn't prompt the decision because both methods run the risk of pirate intrusion, saying, "A dedicated server could be hacked to run without the help of the 'master servers.' A matchmaking system could be emulated, and then the clients would have to be patched in order to contact the pirated servers instead of the original ones. Each one of those presents their own challenges."
Far Cry 3 emerges from the brush on December 4 in the US and November 30 in the UK.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Omri Petitte is a former PC Gamer associate editor and long-time freelance writer covering news and reviews. If you spot his name, it probably means you're reading about some kind of first-person shooter. Why yes, he would like to talk to you about Battlefield. Do you have a few days?


