Questions were no doubt asked about the future of Watch Dogs when the latest game in the series, Watch Dogs Legion, underperformed both critically and commercially (even though its initial sales numbers might have hinted otherwise). The PS5 and PS4 open world title, which first launched in 2020, saw a lot of improvement through post-launch updates and DLC, but the damage had been done long before Ubisoft got around to fixing things.
And according to reputable Ubisoft leaker j0nathan, Legion's failure may have just killed the franchise off. By the sounds of it, the publisher hasn't been willing to invest in the property off the back of Legion's struggles. j0nathan goes on to suggest that other Watch Dogs projects have been cancelled as a result, including some kind of battle royale title.
It's worth remembering that the original Watch Dogs was a real hit as an early PS4 title — the sort of success that would have no doubt had Ubisoft dreaming of a long and storied franchise. Its sequel, the much more outgoing Watch Dogs 2, also did well for itself — but as mentioned, Legion didn't come close to emulating that level of success.
Would you want another Watch Dogs? Would you be surprised if this rumour turned out to be accurate? Bark in the comments section below.
[source twitter.com, via wccftech.com, reddit.com]
Comments 55
I really didn’t mind legion. There was some good ideas in there and it looked great. I’d like to see another game but a bit more gritty
part 2 and 3 still in backlog
As someone who played and quite enjoyed the first 2, the 'play as anyone' feature just made it less appealing for me. An interesting idea but ultimately I'd much rather play as an interesting character with a detailed story.
Suffice to say I never got it but it seems a shame to see it just dumped as I feel it had plenty of potential still.
The invading multiplayer function was quite unique and fun.
This is sad to hear. I really enjoyed Watch Dog since I'm a huge tech nerd. Legion could have been much better had it just stuck to creating an interesting main character instead of pushing 'You can play every one'... I didn't pick up the game till they bought Aiden and Wrench back.
Doesn’t surprise me. Legion was a cool idea in theory, but most of the characters were too similar.
lol, no it didnt. only the first game was decent and then it quickly fell off and lost its way.
Loved the 1st 2 and expected the same for 3, sadly for me they strayed to far away from them to the point I game up after a few hours.
@nomither6 couldn't agree more, I thought the first game was utterly brilliant, still in my top ten of all time, the other two were quite poor.
Hated the original at release… and then went back to it years later and loved it, liked the sequel too. Legion has been in the backlog since it released and I’m in no rush.
Remaster Watch_Dogs 1 for PS5 and I will throw whatever money they wanted at them.
Alas they just didn't capture what made the first one so great in the other two, and the clone thing...bleurgh.
They cancelled a watch dogs battle royale? Well thank f*** for that. That is the kind of Ubi-thinking that leads to "doomed" franchises in the first place. If only they realised that sooner and didn't take Watch Dogs so far away from what made it interesting in the first place.
I would be gutted if we never got a proper "3" in the series, Legion was dreadful really, and a WD Battle Royale? I'm glad that was cancelled
For me, 1 was boring, I barely remember 2 aside from the “XD lel maymay” theme it had going for it, and Legion was mediocre and the gimmick of playing as anyone wasn’t as good as it sounded. After 3 attempts and lukewarm results at best I won’t miss it much if the series is finished
Think ubisoft better leave the England setting alone, keeps killing off the franchises and requires a reboot, ac syndicate and watch dog legions. Do they dare do ghost recon, far cry or division in an English setting. Even though ac valhalla did well it caused a lot of fatigue foe ac rpgs
Two was good, liked that you had non-lethal weapon options so it didn’t feel like you were a spree killer doing it for the lolz. 1 and 3 where poop though so not surprised that the series is dead.
A shame because I really enjoyed Legion. Picked a favourite agent (Clan Kelly cockney girl) and just played almost the entire game with her as the protagonist. Ya get me cuz?
Didn't play the first one, but really enjoyed watch dogs 2. Really good trophy list too, no excessive grinding like some ubisoft games are notorious for
Could the games setting (UK) have been a factor?
I really enjoyed watchdogs 2. Was excited for legion, and the prospect of open world London, but the previewing of it being a grandma simulator along with subpar reviews made me forget about it quite quickly.
Another one of those many franchises that I always wanted to try but it kept getting pushed aside by higher priority games. I don’t have time to play 6’s and 7’s. I’m lucky to find time to play all the 8-10’s. 😅
And before someone gets all in a wad about my prioritizing my game time based on numerical review scores, I’m kidding. Kind of.
I thought that the original Watch Dogs was great fun. Even though Aiden Pearce was a depressing guy to be around. I was really invested in the story. Played the game through a few times. Had both the PS3 and PS4 versions. But I am sure the game pushed the PS3 too hard.
Watch Dogs 2 was good, and also a lot of fun. The recreation of San Francisco was fabulous, a lot of fun to play in.
Never bothered with number 3 though. Perhaps the novelty had worn off?
@TheFakulty
Yes, the setting and related messaging (particularly of the second) was not great.
Legion was ok, but I think instead of playing as literally anyone, it should have been a small, fleshed out group of characters that had actually depth and personalities, similar to Watch Dogs 2. The NPCs you recruited just got very repetitive and samey
I didn't play a ton of the first game and haven't gotten around to 2, but it's kind of a shame to see the IP die off.
Shame, the series started strong, but took a hit from over promising/lying. Then they didn't know what to do with it in 2. And legion jumped the shark and became far cry. Watch dogs was cool because it wasn't about armored PMCs and severed body parts hanging from ceilings. A game about the surveillance state became a typical game of deranged psychopaths and military state.
I really hoped we'd get more real watch dogs someday.
I didn't play legion, it seemed okay but the first two games were dull garbage.
That fake E3 demo set this series off on a downward spiral
Watchdogs got too goofy after 1. The original had issues but was good.
I started it and my PS5 killed itself. It was seriously the game that I started when my PS5 began constantly overheating. I enjoyed what I played, but barely got through the intro and into the world.
I wonder if they might change their mind after GTA6 comes out and the hype dies down a bit for that. I hope so. I really enjoyed Watch Dogs 1 and 2. I have Legion and still want to get around to playing it. Just haven't had the chance.
It's a shame too. GTA obviously comes out on top in terms of presentation and story but it would be a lie if I said I didn't think Watch Dogs played a bit better in terms of combat and traversal at least. Here's hoping the series can come back some day.
Let’s be honest…. Watch Dogs should have been a one off or two off game series.
I thought 2 was great. Legion was an interesting on-paper idea that shouldn't have made it into production as it was. It was okay just sticking to the main mission and doing a quick run-through, but the lack of a solid story or interesting protags, along with the awkward generated dialogue and voices, made it a boring slog for the most part. I like the universe it set up, so I'm a little sad to see it go.
Quite enjoyed the 1st despite it being a bit generic. The main characters in 2 turned me off, didn't bother with 3. Always intended to play the first on pc again one day and
I don't care tbh. This series was stained from it's inception with the false reveal.
I barely remember the first one, but do remember thinking it was derivative and I didn't bother checking out sequels as a result. Maybe I'll check out 2 at some point.
Seeing a GTA vs Watch Dogs type video of the animations/interactivity levels being completely different.
Never saw the reveal as an issue. I like Killzone 2 I didn't care for the trailer there being fake.
I don't think that changes much but that, the setting being the same 3 times doesn't help while AC goes EVERYWHERE in history so it has more going on.
Even Far Cry or Tom Clancy goes to different locations.
I think the hacking gimmick is fair.
I briefly had 1 sold it. Own 3 and I think the be anyone mechanic is genius, the execution is a bit lacking. I get why it is and what they were trying to do but didn't push how to achieve it much further due to Ubisoft open world design it looked busy or empty depending, which you could see some fun in there especially with the behind the scenes, and also just how they wanted to present things. It makes sense.
I think even Zombi U/Zombi used the play anyone and get your stuff back as someone else when you die. I thought that was cool. So to me using that but as anyone to play and use perks and better balance of the perks was cool
But to me like with seeing the AC or Rise of the Ronan girl/guy approach to me they lack a reason to play as the other. Swapping was a bit lacking. I would be totally fine with more going on between them.
In Legion it is dynamic but it's depth was lacking.
I can't say for story as well I don't know the story really for any of them or I forgot when watching videos on each of the games.
Hacking is fair but it only goes so far and the missions seem pretty limited for my barely understanding the series look at it.
They had a fair concept but the execution needed a bit more.
But setting 3 times probably made people not care or the hacking angle didn't do much for people so they needed to strengthen it better but just didn't.
I get the having a protagonist that works which is why 3 did the play anyone and 1 & 2 they tried characters to care about but it didn't do anything.
Honestly I care about gameplay so much I couldn't care less about the protagonists. Sure I do care about characters but most times even when reading a book I care more for the events taking place then the characters. Because to me going places or what they say matters more than what they look like or their personality. Sure I care. But at the same time if I'm reading the same events happening and it's in a slightly different way it's just good to know. Not to seek out oh they go here how great it's to see if I avoid the repetition of same places and what happens there.
Legion was a major step down from 2 but come on, 2 was one of my favorite Ubisoft games...why does Ubisoft keep taking Ls?
And it will not be missed
Legion stunk I beat it in record time by just flying in and out on construction drones, 20 hour game done in 15.
The lack of an actual protagonist was the stupidest decision and a big part of Legion's failure. I mean really, how did that get greenlit?
Really enjoyed the first, couldn’t get on with the second, ignored the third. Would like them to come up with another new IP instead of more ‘dogs.
Watch Dogs has earned a place alongside Assassin's Creed and Far Cry. It's crazy to think Ubisoft feels like they should create and announce 27 different AC titles, but allegedly have no plans after an okay WD: Legion. It's unbelievable.
Let's over saturate the market again with several AC, and FC titles. While Ghost Recon, and Rainbow 6 stagnate. And Splinter Cell has been absent for a decade. Jaysus, this is wild
Watch Dogs 2 was really really good and it is so disappointing that they went in the direction they did with Legion. WD2 had a strong cast, good story, a fun open world and decent mission structures. Also it was the last time Ubi had the guts to have a political story with Politically influenced protagonists.
Not sure whether it is bad or good do discontinue an IP. On one hand I liked the ideas in watch dogs and also enjoyed the games. On the other hand it is also good to start something new. The game mechanics of watchdogs will reappear e.g. cyberpunk had similar mechanics.
Personally I liked the first one best despite its not particularly consistent main character (the "good" guy who mass murders everybody often without any good reason other than achieving personal goals) and the rather poor story. But, it had a great atmosphere and the "hacking" game mechanics had been new at that time, I think. The 2nd which most people liked best, I liked the least. For me it was only a loosely connection of tiny individual story bits. It improved in some areas upon its predecessor, but lacked in atmosphere and, I think, one had too many hacking capabilities from the start. It lacked a sense of progression, I think. Legion, on the other hand, I enjoyed. London was fantastic, it had some very good quests and to me it had more of a consistent story. Not sure I liked the final story arc very much, though. It also had some very good characters, in my opinion. And I also liked the possibility to swap between characters and pick the one which felt best suited for a quest. I think one of the problems was that not all of the characters were equally good in terms of dialogues and how they played and it is also possible that depending on which characters one recruited one liked or disliked the game.
Watchdogs decline started from Watchdogs 2 with the DedSec crew being so annoying. I stopped playing because they were so cringe.
@R_Ryder interesting take. I think the whole franchise just kind of sucks.
First game was too edgy with this depressing dull protag, second they overcorrected and the characters were too wacky.
Third game, they just blanked off and had no protag. Also bad. they cant win, I think they should trash the series
Like so many ubisoft games the third edition felt like a cut-and-paste of large parts of the first two with different models. London felt flat and lifeless and boring to traverse.
No great loss. It always felt like a disjoined series that never delivered on it's promise. As others have said it was guilty of being part of the cut'n'paste Ubisoft era where ideas and assets were shared across games.
The first was disappointing. The second was much better but still relatively indistinct, and Legion... well, I never played Legion because there was no reason to, the series hadn't defined itself enough, there were simply better things to play.
Did really enjoy Legion and I found the play as anyone mechanic really good. Ended up customising several characters to look like real life friends and movie characters (had a spot on John Wick look a like)
Shame we won't see another Watchdogs game, but then like comic book characters, no one stays dead for too long...
As usual, Ubisoft once again misread their players on what we wanted in a Watch Dogs game. They are first and foremost still a character driven story. Watch Dogs 1 and 2 were a commercial success because the players care about what happened to both Aiden and Marcus.
Legion removed this character-driven stories in favour of a gameplay that wasn't even that good to begin with. I had my time with Legion but I honestly can't remember what I did in it or how it went. On the contrary, I can still recite Aiden and Marcus stories if I wanted to.
No loss. Ubisoft has been flailing and flailing recently, I can't wait to hear and cheer about their bankruptcy.
I liked 2 but haven’t had time to play legion. The first game was boring to me though.
I completed WD Legion and enjoyed it. If they made another game with some changes it could easily be fan favourite.
It is a shame as I'd have liked to see the "play as anyone" feature expanded upon. It had such promise. Also, London was a great map, but the game itself was definitely flawed. Hardly the worst game ever, but nowhere near the huge triumph that Watchdogs 2 felt like for me.
Not terribly surprising.. I honestly hated the story of Legion.. It felt slapped together.. I also got tired of the "recruitment" system very quickly..
It got to the point where the only thing I seemed interested in when playing it was the zombie mode.. (Which, surprisingly, was rather fun)
It waa an interesting concept for a game, but unfortunately that concept couldn't stand up when going from paper to our gaming screens..
Aiden Pearce fixed Legion for me.
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