Summary
MultipleDriverprojects are currently in the works, Ubisoft has revealed. This confirmation is bound to be welcome news for the series' fans, who have been waiting for a new mainlineDrivergame for well over a decade.
The latest such entry hit the market in September 2011, arriving in the form ofDriver: San Francisco, which was released alongside a 3DS spin-offDriver: Renegade 3D. Since then, the series spawned just one more title, a free-to-play mobile game calledDriver: Speedboat Paradise, which debuted on Android and iOS devices in December 2014 before being removed from mobile storefronts a few years down the line. Fans have hence long consideredDriverto be one ofUbisoft’s many abandoned franchises.
Ubisoft Teases ‘Exciting’ Driver Projects
But the publisher hasn’t forgotten about the series completely, having now toldGame File’s Stephen Totilo that it’s currently “actively working on other exciting projects” based on the classic franchise. While the series' fans will likely want to take this as a signal that a newDrivergamemay finally be in the works, Ubisoft’s statement was carefully worded to avoid outright confirming that.
Binge’s Live-Action Driver Series Is Not Happening
At least one of these mysterious projects ostensibly isn’t a game, as suggested by Ubisoft’s long track record of attempting to use theDriverIP as the basis for non-gaming endeavors. The latest such project was announced in 2021 in the form of aDriverlive-action seriesthat was supposed to be produced in partnership with streaming service Binge. Self-billed as “the future of gaming entertainment,” the subscriptionless platform was initially planned to launch in 2022 but has yet to do so. In the meantime, Ubisoft decided to drop the idea of pursuing a live-actionDriveradaptation in partnership with Binge, Totilo reports, citing a statement from a company representative.
That collaboration is believed to have been abandoned no later than January 2024, when Ubisoft dissolved Hotrod Tanner LLC, one of its U.S. video production subsidiaries whose name appears to have been a reference to theDriverseries protagonist, detective John Tanner. Hotrod Tanner’s shuttering has been confirmed in the latest edition of Ubisoft’s Universal Registration Document (URD) published in late June 2024.
Many years prior to the failed TV show initiative, Ubisoft also attempted to turnDriverinto a live-action film. The movie was being developed in partnership with production company Impact Pictures, which initially earmarked a $48 million budget for it. A January 2007 waterfront revitalization project in Toronto, where principal photography was supposed to take place, put the project on an indefinite hold, which eventually led to its complete abandonment.
Driver
Driver is a Ubisoft series of open-world games that combine driving with action-adventure segments. Its latest mainline entry arrived in the form of Driver: San Francisco, released in 2011.
