Far Cry 4 is hoping to avoid controversy from PETA as players in the game aren't forced to kill animals, according to creative director Alex Hutchinson. The Far Cry series famously allows players to maim all sorts of wildlife, either for fun or to skin and craft new items and equipment.

 However Hutchinson said slaughtering animals was part of player choice, and they've even taken out rewards for killing elephants in the newest game. "I hope PETA are hopefully aware it's a game and not a documentary so I think we're safe on that front," Hutchinson told ArabicGamers. "Yes, there're upgrade paths to do with the animals. But there're very few times when you're forced in the game to hunt an animal or kill an animal, so I think it's in there as a sort of player expression, how much you want to do it or which animals you might spare. "Elephants for example, there's no reward for killing an elephant in Far Cry 4, that was one we decided just doesn't feel right.

"Hutchinson went on to say that people should be able to make the distinction between video game and real life when it comes to these issues. "For us there's a really clear line between fiction and reality in this one," he added. "For me, I do all kinds of horrible things in games I would never do in real life. So that bit we don't worry about too much." We discussed much more with Hutchinson during a recent interview, including his opinion on video game villains lacking power and diversity being an important topic in the industry.

We'll be bringing you a video of the full interview very soon. Far Cry 4 launches 18 November.

http://www.arabicgamers.com/news/3709/far-cry-4-hoping-to-avoid-peta-controversy-says-dev

What about all the humans you can kill? People are going to grip about that, better dial that back also. It seems so silly that they are worried about what people are going to think about killing animals but not humans. Its a game, its art, just make a game you want to make.

PETA is a joke. They kill more animals than others. Why people listen to them?

Doubt that will happen... Peta as a whole should do themselves a favor and shutdown cause they have done nothing but annoy people

Have you no knowledge how animal activists are? They wouldn't even mind killing people if it meant 'saving' a seal!

Does anyone even take PETA seriously though?

What's wrong with controversy? The CoDs and GTA 5 tried their hands at it with crummy results and they say there's no such thing as bad publicity. Whatever it takes to sell a game.

PETA are ridiculous! I'm an extremely strict vegetarian and my beliefs regarding animals are fairly strong and I place their lives (no matter how large or small) on the same level as that of a human, however, I loved hunting in games such as Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed etcetera, it's a freaking digital animal for goodness sake! They just make themselves look incredibly ridiculous when they complain about video games.

Good. Having to hunt those tigers with just a bow was bloody stupid. I hated that so much. I HAVE A SNIPER RIFLE IN MY INVENTORY, UBISOFT. I WANT TO USE THAT.

Edit:  Even though I think protecting the rights of digital animals is ridiculous, I will say that I didn't really like being told to hunt endangered animals.  That part didn't make me comfortable.

I don't mind. The animal hunting thing wasn't that fun. AC4 had it too.