‘Ghost Recon: Wildlands’ Betas Attract 6.8 Million, Book Tie-In Announced

Ghost Recon: Wildlands launches next week, and Ubisoft may have another hit on their hands, based on the reception for both recent beta test. The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC open-world co-op shooter saw more than 6.8 million players tackle two provinces. Additionally, the publisher announced a tie-in novel to release alongside the game.

The 6.8 million unique players were spread across both the Ghost Recon: Wildlands closed beta and last weekend’s open beta, per Ubisoft. The publisher was sure to emphasize that these were unique players, however, so there is no double-dipping with this number.

Players spent more than 34 million hours in the Wildlands betas, which represents a little more than 5 hours per player. During the open beta, it took approximately 7 hours on average for players to complete the main missions in the first two provinces.

That last number is the most interesting as there will be 21 provinces available to play at launch in what is being described as Ubisoft’s biggest open world game yet. If the 3.5-hour completion per province holds, this promises around 70 hours of total playtime for those who pick the game up and see it through to completion, not including any DLC expansions.

The two provinces in the Ghost Recon: Wildlands beta are also the first two players will encounter in the full release. Itacua serves as the starting province and features lush vegetation along with plenty of mountains. Meanwhile, the second province, Montuyoc, is an arid and snowy location in the Bolivian Altiplano region with tougher strongholds and soldiers.

Those that participated during any of the Wildlands betas or technical tests will receive the Unidad Conspiracy missions as a reward if the game is played using the same Ubisoft account by March 31. This reward adds three exclusive missions to the Media Luna region and will be available to download after next week’s launch.

Players will have access to a wide-range of character and weapon customization along with a skill tree. There’s also a huge variety of weapons to pick up along with assorted jeeps, helicopters, APCs, and other vehicles.

Gameplay is probably best described as a mix between the Just Cause franchise from Avalanche Studios and Ubisoft’s own Far Cry. Players can team up and cooperate to tackle objectives using different strategies from charging straight in, parachuting in, or going for a mix of stealth and cover.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft also announced a novel tie-in with its upcoming shooter, which will be available in eBook and paperback formats for $9.99. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recond Wildlands: Dark Waters will release the same day as the game and follows the U.S. Special Forces squad through a dangerous mission set in the Amazon.

“In Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands: Dark Waters, central Ubisoft Clancy writer and author, Richard Dansky, tells us how Nomad and his squad mates Weaver, Holt and Midas first came together to create the elite Ghost unit.

“A new story set in Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy Universe, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands: Dark Waterstakes readers deep into the Amazonian Jungle. Facing dangerous separatists and uncertain allies, the Ghosts must rescue American citizens held hostage by a group of renegade Venezuelan soldiers, who control the no-man’s land in the middle of the jungle. Fans will get inside the heads of these elite operatives, discover their backstories and see how they decide to either stand together as a team or fail.”

Will you be taking up the co-op action of Ghost Recon: Wildlands? Sound off in the comments below.

[Featured Image by Ubisoft]