‘Watch Dogs’, ‘The Crew’ Release Delayed Until 2014

Watch Dogs and The Crew‘s release dates are getting delayed, meaning that they won’t be launch titles for next-gen consoles after all.

Ubisoft may be getting cold feet about jumping into the gaming pool so quickly after Assassin’s Creed IV and the current top sellers Grand Theft Auto 5 and Pokemon X and Y, but the official statement has more to do with the quality they expect from their games. Yes, Ubisoft may be seeing the need to make some last-minute fixes before Watch Dogs hits the shelves, or possibly add more to help it compete with the current bestselling game from Rockstar.

Watch Dogs is a sandbox hybrid much like Assassin’s Creed, which actually shares more in common with Saints Row IV in that the protagonist can generally hack the city around him. Aiden Pearce was apparently hired to show the futuristic city of Chicago that they are not safe under the cover of an interconnected city.

Watch Dogs was originally a confirmed launch title for PS4 and Xbox One, but now the Watch Dogs release has been delayed until first quarter 2014. Similarly, The Crew didn’t initially have a set release, but its ambitions have proven a bit much and now The Crew‘s release date is set for the second quarter of 2014.

The Crew is a racing title from Ubisoft which was expected to take the Need for Speed formula and remove the set race tracks, instead focusing on racing from “point A to point B.” The environments of The Crew are said to be fully realistic and simulate the desert, mountains, forests, and other landscapes of the real world US.

Ubisoft’s blog stated:

“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. … 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.”

How do you feel about the Watch Dogs and The Crew release dates being delayed?