Watch Dogs, The Crew Delayed Until 2014

super bummed about this. I was looking forward to some nextgen free-runnin' action in MY city for once.

Seriously, anyone else think chicago is weirdly underrepresented as a setting in vidjagames?

also, damn... i just realized battlefield 4 is now the only reason (for me) to buy an xbone. AND i was planning on playing that current-gen beforehand anyway (can't stop filling those unlock bars. NOT FOR ANYTHING.) this is kind of not a good thing... not at all.

I dunno, i never really cared about this game and i'm ambivalent about both new systems until i see something super cool

AC IV better be good.

Man, if I get Assassins Creed IV instead of WD in my bundle, I swear to fuck I'll trade it in.

@financingisfree: Yeah, I cant wait to drive by my place of work in game. Whens the last time chicagos been in anything? Midnight club?

Shame. None of the launch titles of either Xbox One or PS4 appealed to me except Watch_Dogs, which would have kept me entertained for a while until inFamous: Second Son. I guess I can cancel my PS4 pre-order until that comes out.

Watch_Dogs was the game that sold me my PS4. I'm honestly now reconsidering whether I want to get one at launch, because there's not much else that really interests me.

Hell, it was the one game this fall I was looking forward to. So frustrated...

I think Patrick's assessment is right on the money. They saw AC4 tracking unexpectedly well and so they push it back to not dilute sales. This whole "we need more time to polish" spin is horeshit. You dont run a major project like this and come to within spitting distance of RTM and then decide to push it back for no good reason.

Oh well, its not like I dont have plenty of other stuff to play...

This was the only game I was gonna get with my PS4. I don't think I'll be getting a console at launch anymore.

well this sucks, guess I will be stuck with only battlefield 4 at launch

Amazing they waited this long to push back Watch Dogs. I'm not surprised about The Crew....but Watch Dogs does indeed surprise me.

I was at NYCC this weekend, and went to the Watch Dogs closed doors booth. And I was disappointed to see they only had a video playing, and not a live gameplay demo. I suppose that should have told me something about it not being ready.

It was a setting in the last Hitman game. Stranglehold also had a Chicago section.

This announcement makes me markedly less excited about next gen. At least in terms of my PS4 pre order.

AND Pisses me off even more so that the game had to be split gen. Being on so many platforms had to have contributed to the delay.

Also, http://kotaku.com/ubisoft-has-no-answer-for-fate-of-watch-dogs-ps4-xbox-o-1445675601

"

I reached out to Ubisoft to ask what's going on. Their response was... vague:P

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo understand the importance of releasing games of the very highest quality for their consoles. 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. P

Um, what? I wrote back: "This is a little disconcerting. Tons of our readers pre-ordered the next-gen Watch Dogs bundles - you guys really don't have an answer for what will happen to their pre-orders? Should they just cancel?P

Ubisoft's second response:P

We hope that players who have pre-ordered the game will still look forward to playing it in Spring 2014, and that the extra polish and quality we’ll be able to add to the game will ensure a fantastic gaming experience.

"

Oh, you already played it ... neat.

...

Does that go for the PC version too? Amazon.uk still lists it for next month.

Welp. There goes the only "AAA" (or big budget or whatever you want to call it) game that I was actually looking forward to this year.

Ah well....if it makes it better then I'm okay with it. This frees up some time for me and I will probably get Last of Us now.

Yeah, giving them as much optimization time as they can schedule can't hurt.

I hesitate to come down real hard on launch titles which were being made before console specs were finalized, and I'm even less inclined to judge the XOne and PS4's potential by such games. We've gone through that dance last generation. The X360 wasn't showing its full potential with Call of Duty 2, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero or King Kong.

Quake 4 and Prey had horrible framerate problems, and at the time many people scoffed that the X360 couldn't even run the Doom 3 engine (id Tech 4) well. And yet eventually much better looking games came out that ran much better as well. Heck, even Gears of War, a platform exclusive which came out a year after launch, looks utterly primitive in comparison to its sequels. The same holds true for the PS3, perhaps more so. Just consider the phenomenal leap in visuals between Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Once engines are tuned and adapted properly, we'll probably see some very impressive stuff that will likely outshine Watch Dogs (which in all honesty has never really impressed me, even viewing high-end PC footage). All that said, I hope the extra time is spent well and maybe, just maybe, the engine they're using can be massaged into what they'll need for the next few years. I hope Ubisoft ends up with their own Unreal Engine 3 and not id Tech 4. In other words, an engine that doesn't hit its stride too late to matter. I'm also curious just how well and quickly Frostbite 3 will be adapted on these new consoles. Exciting stuff!

It makes sense. Watch_Dogs looked like a good game and launch titles are usually crap. It might have created a rift in spacetime if this came out as a good, 3rd party launch title.

Seriously? This is a little late in the process

lols

@ninkendo: I absolutely agree. The time and resources that are being spent on developing current gen versions should have been refocused on the next-gen versions. The 360 and PS3 versions are doomed for mediocrity.

I talked to an amazon rep who said if you have the bundle you are still guaranteed a launch day PS4. Their plan right now is to ship Watch Dogs when it is released but they are more than likely going to change that and bundle a different game instead.

I'm glad they delayed WD rather than shoving something half finished out the door just to have something out at launch. The latest pics and footages have looked rough. Hopefully the game will be closer to what it looked like when it was revealed now.

This is a pretty big delay that I'm sure is going to cost both Sony and Microsoft some preorders. I'm honestly surprised that they both allowed them to delay one of their system sellers.

NOOOO! This was my most anticipated launch game. A Spring 2014 is a crap shoot since there's a bunch of games for the time so who knows if I will play it. Its a sad state when the best launch games are all sequels like BF4, COD, and NFS: Rivals.

Although Patrick's line of "Perhaps Ubisoft saw Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag tracking really well, and decided to avoid cannibalizing its premiere franchise?" is one of those cynical game industry sentiments that I imagine is spot on. Ubi, if you have someone monitoring public opinion, there's no way in hell I'm buying AC4 even if you delay Watchdogs.

This means that Ubisoft will continue to inundate Alex's inbox with new Watch Dogs videos every week for an additional 5 or 6 months. Just when he thought he was nearing the end, they move the finish line back.

Godspeed, Alex. Godspeed.

Sad news, but hopefully the delay pays off in the end with a more solid title. It isn't the biggest loss, since there are plenty of other titles for me to play while I wait. Although, I was looking forward to an interesting new IP on next gen hardware.

Probably a smart move to let it and Assassin's Creed IV have some breathing room as well. My PS4 purchase list has dwindled down to just ACIV it seems. At least Forza 5 and Dead Rising 3 (maybe Ryse) look good for Xbox One's launch.

The Crew I can understand, but Watch Dogs? I thought that was done and dusted and coming out in a month.

A mistake is going to be made. You still have time.

Oh wow, this actually changes a lot.

I'm happy about this. There are far too many games to play this year as it is.

lol They think less people will buy it after GTAV. Next year? Well 2013 has officially become super boring and 3rd year in a row where the GotY awards will be boring as fuck. RIP

I'm guessing someone didn't meet their preorder numbers.

Maybe I just don't like the game, or Ubisoft in general, but this seems sketchy.

A bit late to delay a game that was supposed to come out in a month, hmmm? But seriously. I see no problems with them giving the game some more polish time and also putting it out of the way of Assassin's Creed.

Well this is just great! this limits what games i'm interested in getting later this year even further, only games i might get are the new Batman and AC:IV and even those i might not even really wanna get.

@noizy: Exactly my thoughts. Ugh.

Well, on the bright side I only have to buy 4 games with my PS4 now

This delay is making my decision to not buy a console until summer at the earliest look like a really smart one right now

I guess that'll learn me to pay off a next gen console before release. I don't give a crap about Killzone and I've been burnt by Assassin's Creed before. Guess I'll have to grab some blu-ray movies, or something.

Wonder how many console pre-orders got canceled after this news. If Watch Dogs wasn't coming to the pc I would have wanted to pre-order a console, though I probably would've waited for reviews considering the cost of a new console.

Hey folks who preordered a PS4: there's another next-generation console with more launch titles available you might be interested in. It's not the Wii U. Might be time to reconsider your tribalism.

Well, now I'm doubly glad I decided to cancel my PS4 preorder.

Initially I was disappointed, but the more I think about it, the more okay I am with the news. I don't really need Watch_Dogs *and* Battlefield 4 at the same time. This makes it easier on my budget and lets me focus on one big ticket at a time.

so how does this happen? a MONTH before release, people already preordered launch bundles with the game, and then pull it this late?

feel like this decision should have been made a long time ago.

Can't wait to play these next-gen games on Xbox360

Really happy I didn't preorder a new console.

@markjw: I am still getting a PS4 but the amount of games i will play this year will be at an all time low.

I wish FFX HD was coming this year for PS3. Maybe that would have kept me busy.

This is such a dick move. You don't get to decide this 4 weeks before launch.

What's the point of getting a next-gen console at launch, now?