Wait a little longer: You’ll have to wait until next year to play Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs.
Watch Dogs, from Ubisoft, was a game I was looking forward to, so I was disappointed when Ubi announced the other day that it had been delayed until 2014.
Here’s the official line from the company: “Our ambition from the start with Watch_Dogs has been to deliver something that embodies what we wanted to see in the next-generation of gaming. It is with this in mind that we’ve made the tough decision to delay the release until Autumn 2014.
“We know a lot of you are probably wondering ‘why now?’ We struggled with whether we would delay the game. But from the beginning, we have adopted the attitude that we will not compromise on quality. As we got closer to release, as all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in our last push before completion, it became clear to us that we needed to take the extra time to polish and fine tune every detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you. We thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the way you respond on the web, at events, press conferences and during other opportunities we have to interact. Your passion is what drives us.
“We can’t wait to see you in Chicago next Spring. We are confident you’ll love this game as much as we love working on it.”
I’m all for games being delayed if it’s going to give a better game – I think we all are – but is the delay of Watch Dogs really because Ubisoft wants “extra time to polish and fine tune every detail” or is it because Ubisoft was fearful that Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, which is releasing on October 29, almost a month before Watch Dogs, would have taken sales away from Watch Dogs, a new and untested IP. It’s a theory, anyway.
And here’s a conspiracy theory that I’m going to throw into the mix: Could the real reason for Watch Dogs being delayed be because Ubisoft aren’t happy with the state of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version – and will eventually announce that the game will only come out on PC and next-generation consoles, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
I mean, it could happen, right? I saw some video comparisons of current generation Watch Dogs versus next-generation Watch Dogs and the current generation visuals looked poor when put alongside their next-generation brothers. Will Ubisoft eventually make a surprise announcement that Watch Dogs is next-generation console and PC only?
I’m not worried about the console versions, anyway, I was going to buy it on PC anyway but one upside with the delay is that I now have a little longer before I’m forced to upgrade to Windows 8 from WIndows 7.
[Although, I may have to upgrade to Windows 8 sooner than expected as I’m expecting a review copy of Battlefield 4 and I believe that it runs better under Win 8. Oh, well.]
As a tech journalist I can’t believe you are so reticent about upgrading to Windows 8. There is a whole new eco-system of games you are missing out on.
Hi, Steve. Maybe it’s because I’m not completely taken with the Metro UI on a desktop computer. I think Win8 is great on touch screens, but I’m not so sure about desktops. It matters little, though: I’m going to have to upgrade sooner rather than later, especially with more and more games being optimised for Win8 rather than Win7.
My theory is that they saw GTA V and realised they needed to up their game. A better question is – is there any point buying either an XBox One or PS4 at launch?
That’s a good question, Russell. To be honest, I don’t see anything that compells me to buy an Xbox One or PS4 at launch, at least not in terms of games anyways. I’ll be watching things very closely.
I’m looking forward to Ryse and have pre-ordered an Xbox One.
I’m not sure what I think of Ryse, actually. I don’t see me getting a next-generation console for some time, at least not until I find full-time work.
Personally only Bungie’s Destiny has intrigued me so far. Which is odd as I never play multiplayer FPS – though love good single player FPS games. In any event, since that doesn’t release until April 2014 (?) I will be watching and waiting
Looks like feelings are shared
http://kotaku.com/the-ps4-launch-minus-the-hype-1450976276