Ubisoft’s Guillemot talks Watch Dogs backlash

Ubisoft has had some tough PR in recent years, especially in 2014 with the borderline catastrophe that was the Assassin's Creed Unity launch.  However, these recent launch issues really stem back from an unveiling at E3 2012.  The presentation was solid for the most part, but consisted of the usual suspects, Just Dance 4, Assassin's Creed 3 and Far Cry 3.  That is, until the end.  Watch Dogs was a reveal that came out of nowhere and in this day and age of sequels and leaks, it was even more impressive that such a huge game was able to stay under wraps until what is arguably the biggest gaming trade show in the world.  Ubisoft won E3 2012 because of everything Watch Dogs seemingly represented.  A fully explorable open world, a storyline of intrigue and next gen graphical technology that was arguably the best that had ever been shown to date.

Unfortunately, reality gradually set in and upon the game's release, it was immediately apparent that something was wrong.  Watch Dogs had clearly been downgraded on a graphical level and the game that players got their hands on was not the same as the one that was shown at E3 2012.  Some media outlets have gone so far as to re-create the E3 2012 demo on a high end PC on Ultra settings to prove this point.  While graphics are not the end-all-be-all of a game's experience, the point of the argument is more about the honesty in the quality of a product.  Ubisoft Chief, Yves Guillemot recently gave an interview with The Guardian, admitting to the mistakes the company made with advertising Watch Dogs noting:

With E3 2015 we said, OK, let’s make sure the games are playable, that they’re running on the target machines. When we show something, we ask the team, make sure it’s playable, make sure gamers can immediately see exactly what it is. That’s what we learned from the Watch Dogs experience – if it can’t be played on the target machine, it can be a risk.

To be fair, Ubisoft is not the only company to use a Vertical Slice that wasn't representative of the final product.  Killzone 2 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt have also been dealt similar backlash and it can be certain that a few trailers and demos from this year's E3 will cost their games as well.

When asked about Watch Dogs 2, whose development isn't much of a secret at this point, Guillemot remarked "We are continuing to work on everything we created so we can get to the next level."