Expansive Worlds has been supporting theHunter: Call of the Wild for three years now and will continue to do the same for several more years in the future. While developers normally tend to jump over to new projects after three to four years, Expansive Worlds is content with the current state of the hunting simulator.
Speaking with SegmentNext in a recent interview, producer and product owner Philipp Strecker confirmed that there are no plans for another installment in the franchise, at least not anytime soon. Expansive Worlds has made a commitment to release monthly updates and on occasions, act on player-feedback to keep theHunter: Call of the Wild fresh in terms of content and replay value.
The developer has set a goal to stick with the latest entry for as long as the original. Released back in 2009, theHunter: Classic only received a standalone expansion called Primal after six long years. Hence, theHunter: Call of the Wild is looking at support from the developer for the next three years at minimum.
Players are still happy with theHunter: Call of the Wild, and we try to give them a game update roughly every month. It’s easy to get inspired with realistic games, especially with such an enthusiastic player base who share their real-life experiences and keeps requesting new content whenever we manage to deliver on a previous wish. As with theHunter: Classic, we are in it for the long run with theHunter: Call of the Wild.
Strecker also noted that getting feedback from the community is not only enjoyable but important as well. Knowing about what players want to see introduced in the game or some feature that they want implemented is what drives Expansive Worlds to keep updating theHunter: Call of the Wild.
For example, Wolves have been a popular request, and when we finally added them to the game, they can group up as a pack, circle the player, and take turns in attacking until you scare them off or fall victim to your prey.
This will keep your game active, and over time you will tick off the boxes of players who were just waiting for a specific feature, like bird hunting, driving ATVs, or exploring the savanna.
While fans may find it disappointing that a next-generation theHunter entry is not on the horizon, Strecker did exclaim an interest in supporting new technology. That includes re-releasing the same games on additional platforms — PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X — to a wider audience.
We have nothing to announce at this point, but as players and developers, we’re always excited about supporting new technology, whether it’s making our games available to more players through services such as PlayStation Now and Xbox Game Pass, or the next generation of consoles.
Not many are aware that Expansive Worlds is actually a creative subsidiary of Avalanche Studios, the name behind the Just Cause franchise and the most recent Rage 2 installment. The separate division features staffers who have worked on all of those games and in all are solely responsible for supporting theHunter franchise — the original included.
