Ubisoft's open-world hacking game Watch Dogs delayed Until Spring 2014

A video game delay is nothing new in this business. But five weeks out from launch? That's a bit disconcerting.

Nevertheless, Ubisoft's open-world hacking game, the same title that made a huge splash all the way back at E3 2012, now won't see the light of day until the spring of 2014 -- April 1 at the earliest. All this according to a post by GameSpot, which also details the statement direct from Ubisoft:

"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 spring 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 each detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience."

And from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot:

"Our long-term goal is to win the next generation. The tough decisions we are taking today to fully realize the major potential of our new creations have an impact on our short-term performance. 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."

Ubisoft isn’t saying what this means for the official Watch Dogs and PlayStation 4 Launch Day bundle it is selling in partnership with Sony. That product page on Amazon still refers to the bundle, but it is unclear if those who preordered it will actually get it on Nov. 15.

“Our partnership with Sony remains strong, and we will have more details to share about the specific benefits of this partnership for PlayStation customers at a later date,” a Ubisoft spokesperson told GamesBeat regarding the bundle. We’ve asked for more details.

About Watch Dogs

Watch Dogs is an open world action-adventure stealth video game in which players control a vigilante named Aiden Pearce (voiced by Noam Jenkins), who can hack into various electronic devices tied to the city's central operating system (ctOS), allowing various methods for the player to solve numerous objectives. Examples include hacking into people's phones to retrieve bank data and steal funds, triggering malfunctions in equipment to distract other characters and hacking into traffic lights to cause collisions.


Players can also receive information on civilians via augmented reality feeds, providing the player with information on demographics, health and potential behaviour. Objectives showcased in presentations include finding specific targets to kill, evading the police and following potential victims in order to stop their would-be killers. Combat utilizes a combination of stealth components and parkour, along with the mechanics of a cover-based third-person shooter.


The game features an elusive online multiplayer element. The "multiplayer" experience is a one-on-one interaction between two human characters in which one player seamlessly and secretly joins the single player experience of another player. The first player (which entered the other player's world) is tasked with finding the second player (which is initially unaware that another human is in their game session - no notification is given to the second player). Once the first player finds the second player the objective is updated.

The first player's new objective involves installing a back door virus into the second player's smartphone, then hiding while that virus siphons off a portion of the data the second player has collected. This stolen information increases the first player's power once they return to their own single player session. The second player must stay within a certain radius of the first player for the download to progress. Once the download is initiated by the first player the second player is alerted that they have been hacked and that data is being stolen from their smartphone.


Once the second player has been alerted of the intrusion their objective is to 1) locate the first player who is stealing their data, and 2) either kill the first player or cause the first player to flee to such a distance that the download is halted (a certain minimum distance must be maintained for the download to progress). It is unclear how long the first player must remain within range of the second player for the download to be successful. In all gameplay released by

Ubisoft so far the hacks have been unsuccessful. In one gameplay video there are two hacking attempts. In the first attempt the first player successfully flees once they are identified by the second player (causing the download to fail). In the second attempt the first player is again identified by the second player, but the first player lures the second player into an alley where a gunfight ensues, ultimately resulting in the first player (the hacker) killing the second player (the hackee). A successful hack will give the hacker "a portion of information that you will gather through the game"; it is unclear exactly what is gained.


The game originally debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2012. It immediately began generating buzz for its high-fidelity visuals and gameplay that didn’t seem to fully rely on firearms.