A shocking announcement from Ubisoft today revealed the company has decided to push Watch Dogs until Spring 2014.
Watch Dogs has been one of the most anticipated games since its surprise reveal at E3 2012. With its impending release just weeks away, it’s frustrating to see it pushed. On the other hand, it’s reassuring knowing that Ubisoft will be sparing no expenses to make sure their game is at its best when released; extra polish is rarely a bad thing.
Ubisoft published their official statement on their blog.
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.
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 other opportunities we have to interact. Your passion keeps us motivated.
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.
The majority of the responses via Twitter have been positive.
@BDRAnneLewis Thx. My take: no big deal. I'd rather have a polished product and will have plenty of other games to play in the meantime.
— Brian Pinter (@BPinter) October 15, 2013
@Ubisoft sorry to hear about the delay. I look forward to playing #WatchDogs whenever it comes out.
— Alex Filipowski (@AlexFiliUK) October 15, 2013
Gamers who pre-ordered the Watch Dogs PS4 bundle will have to wait and see how their purchase will be handled. Sony provided a brief statement to VideoGamer.com earlier today regarding the news.
Obviously this is [a] very recent announcement, but we will be working very closely both with Ubisoft and with our partners at retail to manage this situation.
Stay tuned for more info.