“Watch Dogs” Franchise Is ‘Completely Dead’?
Ubisoft announced the other day a corporate restructure, one that led to multiple projects being cancelled, including “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” remake.
In addition, two of its studios (Ubisoft Halifax and Ubisoft Stockholm) were being shut down, while others would be hit by smaller impacts. The reasoning was put down to a larger focus on open-world adventures and live service experiences with accelerated investments in generative AI.
The announcement was met with decisive negativity in the form of the company’s share price plunging nearly 40%, its sharpest single-day decline ever, to its lowest levels since 2011.
Now, adding to the bad news is a story from reliable leaker Tom Henderson. Appearing on the Insider Gaming podcast, Henderson says: “As far as I’m aware at this moment in time, the Watch Dogs IP is completely dead.”
When another scooper shot back, saying “not exactly,” Henderson said they wer likely referring to the project “Watch Dogs Coterie” which is purely an idea among fans of the franchise and not even remotely close to any actual development.
The “Watch Dogs” franchise has always been an odd one. The first title launched with over 4 million first-week sales, while the first sequel in 2016 hit 10 million lifetime units. 2020’s “Watch Dogs Legion,” however, underperformed with under 3 million lifetime sales and plenty of criticism over its repetitive missions.
The games unfold in fictionalized versions of real-life modern day cities which are all run by ctOS, software which offers centralised control over all major infrastructure systems across entire cities including subway lines, electricity grids, surveillance cameras and traffic control systems.
The games follow hacker protagonists caught up in the criminal underworlds of their respective cities who are able to use their phone as a means to both lift people’s personal data and manipulate the environment around them from door locks to street lights.
The first two titles still have their fanbases and have led to the New Regency-produced film adaptation, which was shot back in mid-2024 and stars Tom Blyth and Sophie Wilde. Still no word as yet when that will be released.