Watch Dogs Delayed to 2014, GAME still honouring pre-orders

Watch Dogs has been pushed back from its November release date. It’s now coming out in “Spring 2014”, so won’t be available at launch for the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox One, nor for any of the current consoles.

In a post on Ubisoft’s Ubiblog, the Watch Dogs development team said the following:

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.

Polish and fine-tuning, the PR-friendly words for bug-fixing. It’s a shame that it won’t be out this year but I’m all for a better product.

As for people who pre-ordered Watch Dogs PS4 Bundles from GAME, the retailer announced today that they will still be honouring those orders. In a series of posts on Twitter today they explained that you’ll still get your PlayStation 4 console at launch in November and the Watch Dogs game will follow when it’s released in 2014. They’ll be in touch with those who ordered, in case anyone wants to change to an alternative.