Ben-DutkaOkay, so it's not the best news. But look on the bright side- there's less on your plate for the crazy holiday season.
Ubisoft has announced that the hotly anticipated Watch Dogs has been delayed until spring 2014. The game was originally set to launch for current- and next-gen platforms next month.
The reason? The publisher says their goal with Watch Dogs is to "deliver something that embodies what we wanted to see in the next-generation of gaming," and because they don't feel they can positively deliver that in November, the game has been pushed back. For further explanation:
"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," the developer added. "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 each detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience."
We can respect that. We want the best the team can produce and if it isn't ready, it isn't ready. We've got plenty of games to play in the meantime, and we'd rather wait and get something special in the spring. As for The Crew , that is now set for the company's upcoming financial year, which means it won't see the light of day at least until April (and maybe beyond that). Again, though, Ubisoft's commitment to quality is what's holding things back, as they have lofty amitions.
CEO Yves Guillemot said that their "long-term goal is to win the next generation" and that these decisions will prove fruitful in the future:
"We are convinced that, longer term, they will prove to be the right decisions both in terms of satisfaction for our fans and in terms of value creation for our shareholders. We are building franchises that will become perennial pillars of Ubisoft's financial performance. In a context of growing successes for mega-blockbusters, the additional time given to the development of our titles will allow them to fulfill their huge ambitions and thus offer players even more exceptional experiences."
Related Game(s): Watch Dogs , The Crew
I respect their reasoning, but it sucks. Watch Dogs was really the only thing I was anticipating for the PS4 right out of the gate. Oh well, I'll make due with something I guess.
I can see why gamers would respect them in a way, but I think they blew it. They are one month from release and suddenly needed another 6 months or MORE?! One month from release, they should be at the stage where they're printing discs now. They obviously foreseen this months ahead probably even E3 that it may not make it for launch.
Maybe, maybe not. During the development of software, there are times when I find a new set of tools (a programming language that I can use for something that I didn't know of), and I push back my delivery date on a project.
I can absolutely see them finding out they have tricks and different engine tweaks that they can utilise now that they have a new system and are discovering how the software and hardware interact.
This was to be a flagship software title for an entirely new hardware system and if they just pushed out a game that was based on PS3 architecture with a graphics upgrade and some minor additional functionality I personally would have been more disappointed than I will be with having to wait a bit and them utilising the hardware to more potential.
I agree, but not to the full extent. There is always room for improvements, thats why the early cycle of PS3 compared with the end of PS3 cycle, the games look so different. GT5 took forever to release because the guy at PD is a perfectionist. I doubt we want to wait until the end of the cycle to get Watchdog. So Ubisoft have to stand their ground at some point to say they have to release it no matter what. 1 month away from launch is a punch to all the fan's face.
you can bet that Watchdogs will be annualized like Assassin's Creed too. So why not release the game and make the changes in the sequel. Adding 7 months of production time means that they mustve made a big mistake somewhere. Last of Us had a delay, but by a month only. Thats what you call tweaking, with an even smaller team. Everyone forgiven them, because the progress shows, not 7 months.
Did they perhaps realize that by putting ACIV and WD out at the same time would basically water down potential profits?
If they said that it was business reason, its understandable, but not this BS
Not very happy to hear this. Hopefully, they will reconsider their decision to cap the framerate on the PS4 at 30 FPS and get it to 60 FPS.
Watch Dogs was the only game I was really looking forward to this fall. Just depressing news for me.
This most certainly is a disappointment;however, i can respect that they want to deliver a positive experience and decided to delay it, but is this the real reason though? this was truly one of the reasons i pre-ordered the ps4, i guess Knack will be the game i get launch day now.
Wow… though the game was too good for a launch title… Still it is far to late in the game to do this. Online stores here in the UK were selling a Watchdogs PS4 bundle… they should have set the delay many months ago… Glad I got my Wii-U and Wind Waker instead this fall as the PS4 has absolutely nothing to offer me this year.
Not much need for the PS3 version now
Sure there is…….
I give them credit for not sacrificing quality in order to stick with the deadline. Other publishers like EA probably would've pushed the game out the door finished or not. However this means there's only one launch game now (Killzone:SF)that I'm interested in.
This seems like it could be related to GTA V, in the sense that Rockstar did the same thing and it certainly panned out. Also as a smaller aside, many people (myself included) are holding off on the PS4 due to GTA V (and another game or two I/we have to finish).
Watch Dogs and The Crew are two the reasons I would have been antsy for a PS4 (along with Shadowfall and DCUO [is that a launch title?]) so Ubisoft has successfully curbed 50% of my desire to go next gen as early as possible.
Last edited by broox9 on 10/15/2013 5:52:28 PM
This is a shame so late in the day and a real blow to the launch line up too.
As has been said before 'Software sells hardware.'
Knack and Battlefield will keep me occupied over into the new year. Besides, I have three project cars to be taking most of my time soon anyways.
Dang that sucks but whatever gives me more time on ac4 nd hopefully they make it better than it already is
This was my most anticipated launch title. Now my launch games are mostly FPS except for ACIV.
Their reasoning is hard to believe, I can respect it if it IS true, but it is SO late in the day, I mean how could they not have known they would need another 5 months? That is a huge delay and gives them a considerable amount of dev time. 5 months for 'more polish'? Really?
Also, they managed to detail the DLC missions for the limited editions, so if they had time to make them, but not enough to finish the game, that also seems strange?
Yup it's kinda weird.
I'm glad I picked the KillZone bundle at amazon now. I bet there are a whole bunch of pissed off people getting Emails from amazon today.
I think we will see more of this happening next gen for a while until they all get a handle on it. From what I have heard and seen, the game had some issue regarding frame rates and such. So my guess is it would be smart for them to delay and get all the bugs out. Mind you ACIV has similar issues as well, especially when it crapped out at the Sony demo a while. Surprised that has not been held back.
Some might be right though. It could all come down to they have one too many games coming out at the same time competing with one another. Makes sense to have one for the holidays and the other to come after.
I lost my interest with AC so I was excited for everyone else for the Watch Dogs game. Too bad the game launch is not reversed. I think most would rather be playing Watch Dogs.
Keep playing!
Huh…guess I won't be getting the PS4 in November :/ Aside from Watch Dogs, there wasn't really anything that caught my eye.
Guess I'll be getting the PS4 when Infamous: Second Son comes out….as I originally planned 🙂
Damn, I already have this payed of for the PS4 launch. I guess I'll have to pick up something else
No problem with the delay..but I'm curious on how this will effect my launch day bundle……
Any bundles which included Watch Dogs will still be shipped. Just without Watch Dogs.
It hasn't been announced yet if Watch Dogs will be replaced with another game, or if you will just get the game sent to you when it does eventually launch.
But your PS4 is still coming at launch.
Terrible job by Ubisoft. Rather than seeming better after its reveal at E3 2012, this game has seemed to get worse each time out and instead of positioning it as a high profile PS4 launch and even go as far as allowing bundles, Ubi should've been up front with Sony right away that this might not make launch. Most importantly is the people who put faith in Ubi that this would get done in time may now get screwed. Terrible job by this company but I'm not surprised by the delay, the game clearly needs more time. Sadly though I think this is just more of a marketing thing than anything else. They don't want AC IV and this game cutting into the other's sales. No matter how you look at this it sucks and once again just shows what a trash company this actually is. Some of its games are good but the people running the company are pure scum.
Ho hum.
Great news. I wasn't going to get either one day one, anyway 😀 On the plus side, it does make it more likely that Watch_Dogs will get the sales figures that it seems to deserve. Throwing its debut into the middle of the holiday season, surrounded by AC, CoD, BF, Forza, GT and others was a pretty questionable decision in the first place.
Now, what's the bet ______ reckons that he guessed it was going to happen because Ubisoft hasn't had any public hands-on sessions with Watch_Dogs?
delay the game just 1 month from release?
about the time it would be being signed off and sent to pressing?
sorry, but i gotta call BS again on games being delayed 1 month before release because the game needs more development time.
if it did they would of delayed it allot earlier than waiting till the day it was supposed to be sent to the pressers.
50 bucks says ubisoft does not want this competing with the rest of the games releasing next month.
plus, why is it always games releasing in the same month as CoD that this happens to?
coincidence?
or should we start calling it the CoD curse?
*bam* all of a sudden my ps4 purchase got postponed.
Now I aim for a Infamous-bundle.
Last edited by Beamboom on 10/16/2013 3:52:08 AM
yea im not impressed cos i just pre-ordered it last weekend but i guess if they need more time to make the game better so be it but it just a little disapointing i was looking forward to it when i got my ps4 but ohwell i'll still have ac4 and the exclusives.
happy gaming =)
Killzone : Shadow Fall is going to sell millions
Knack has now got importance as a second buy
Watch Dogs vs Infamous Second Son.
I say both.
Last edited by Kiryu on 10/16/2013 5:15:23 AM
Now i wish i cared more for the xbox ONE since i m only remotely interested in Killzone ( already bought bf4 on Pc ) and i have zero interest on the other exclusive out before the holydays on the ps4 .
Also all i see in the near future are multi gen game so basically they will be a small upgrade from this gen . Not what i m looking for in next gen .
Last edited by berserk on 10/17/2013 3:28:15 PM
Drive Club may be next to get delayed…
It was odd they were releasing more than one game at one time, spreading out a bit is a good thing, especially if it gives it a few extra months of development.
That said, it's kind of funny now given a guy from Ubisoft made a "two months in Los Santos is enough" image for Watch Dog's release on 11/21 and now it's delayed three to six months.