All the signs were there… With barely a playable demo at any recent Expo, it was increasingly clear that perhaps Ubisoft wasn't quite ready to reveal their next-gen version of Chicago to the masses quite yet.
Revealed today on the Ubisoft Blog, the development team wrote this:
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.
It's certainly sad news, especially for people like myself who have been very much looking forward to the game. I guess my only remaining question is what happens to those who pre-ordered various Watch Dogs bundles? Do they get Assassin's Creed IV as a consolation?
Ubisoft doesn't have a solution for the PS4 Watch Dogs bundles, but will send out updates when a decision is made. It's a little scary, however, considering that the bundles were most likely going to just be the System with the game separately, I think it's safe to assume those who pre-ordered the bundle will get the system regardless.
The Crew wasn't ready to release until early 2014, and looks like it will just have to wait a few months longer. A Ubisoft rep has emailed me back stating, "The Crew is now slated for the second half of 2014."
