It’s been discovered that a Driver live-action series is no longer in development but apparently, there’s still hope for the franchise. Don’t feel confused if you didn’t know that a Driver live-action series was in the works given the tsunami of streaming and theatrical videogame adaptations announced over the last ten years only to sputter into nothingness. Ubisoft announced this project in 2021 when it said it would stream on Binge in 2022.
Per Ubisoft:
- “Our mission at Ubisoft is to bring our games to life in new and exciting ways and create content set in the world, culture, and community of gaming,” said Danielle Kreinik, head of television development, Ubisoft Film & Television.
- “Working with Binge will allow us to bring a Driver series directly to the audience who is most passionate about seeing this franchise come to life.” “As longtime fans of the franchise, we’re excited to deliver an original, premium, and rich storytelling experience that will take fans and newcomers on a thrilling ride,” said Allan Ungar for Binge.
The future of the franchise
Ubisoft recently posted its annual financial report, a 356-page document that includes many details, one of which led Game File to ask the publisher about the status of its Driver franchise. Ubisoft responded that it was no longer moving ahead with the live-action series but “We are actively working on other exciting projects related to the franchise and can’t wait to share more information in the future.”
There hasn’t been a new entry in the Driver franchise since 2011’s Driver San Francisco so another game is long overdue, to say the least. The first Driver game was released in 1999 and at one time directly competed with Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto franchise in the undercover agent/gangster genre, but did fall to the wayside as GTA became more popular. Ubisoft bought the franchise from Atari, Inc. and Reflections Interactive Limited in 2006 for $19 million.
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Discussion (5 replies)
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Good times, Driver 1 and 2 were great, fantastic tunes, I even had the driver keyring :D Then came GTA.....
They would have had to do a lot of work to try and nail the series and capture the atmosphere of the games.
They just dropped a driver related video on their long dead youtube channel, so I suspected something was up.
The videois nothing special just a few devs talking about Driver3 development. But I don't believe it is a coincidence.
I'm about 80-20 for either a Driver 3 remaster, or a new game in the works.
I'd like a new game but the lack of commitment details from the developers and Ubisoft has me doubting anything modern is in the works. Likely something made for DX10 that will somehow be shoehorned into DX12 via UE5 with some awful-looking graphics. I really, really, want to be wrong about this though.
I had forgotten Driver was even a game series :p
Oh man, that's a bummer about the Driver series getting dropped! I had no idea they were even working on a live-action version. But hey, if Ubisoft says they still have plans for the franchise, I’m staying hopeful. Maybe we'll see a new game or something else cool in the future. With all the video game adaptations floating around, it's hard to keep track of what's happening, so I guess it's not too surprising this one flew under the radar. Fingers crossed for some exciting Driver news soon!
Discussion (5 replies)
Join Discussion →[embedded media]
Good times, Driver 1 and 2 were great, fantastic tunes, I even had the driver keyring :D Then came GTA.....
They would have had to do a lot of work to try and nail the series and capture the atmosphere of the games.
They just dropped a driver related video on their long dead youtube channel, so I suspected something was up.
The videois nothing special just a few devs talking about Driver3 development. But I don't believe it is a coincidence.
I'm about 80-20 for either a Driver 3 remaster, or a new game in the works.
I'd like a new game but the lack of commitment details from the developers and Ubisoft has me doubting anything modern is in the works. Likely something made for DX10 that will somehow be shoehorned into DX12 via UE5 with some awful-looking graphics. I really, really, want to be wrong about this though.
I had forgotten Driver was even a game series :p
Oh man, that's a bummer about the Driver series getting dropped! I had no idea they were even working on a live-action version. But hey, if Ubisoft says they still have plans for the franchise, I’m staying hopeful. Maybe we'll see a new game or something else cool in the future. With all the video game adaptations floating around, it's hard to keep track of what's happening, so I guess it's not too surprising this one flew under the radar. Fingers crossed for some exciting Driver news soon!