Watch Dogs News: Ubisoft Exec Explains Release Date Delay

When Ubisoft delayed Watch Dogs, changing the game from PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launch title to being released sometime in 2014, many were confused and upset that the anouncement came so close to when the game was supposed to originally be released. However, now, we may have a better idea of just why Watchdogs was delayed. 

As IGN reported, Ubisoft's North American President Laurent Detoc recently explained how the company came to the decision to hold off on releasing Watch Dogs.

"It's a very intense decision...I think one of the fascinating things about this industry is that you can go from genius to idiot in an extremely short time frame. These are some of those moments, where you're riding sky high on Watch Dogs or Rayman, and then suddenly you have to break it to the outside world, and sometimes even convince the inside people. Not everybody agrees. You have to say, 'this is in the best interest of the product, to do this,' because at the end of the day we're going to be able to do this extra fine tuning," Detoc told IGN. 

Detoc also explained that many people at Ubisoft thought the game would hit its scheduled launch date even into August, but then eventually it was decided that delaying the game was a necessary evil:

"I'll tell you, at Gamescom, everybody was looking each other in the eye thinking we would be there at launch...There were already some lingering doubts, but we were plowing through it. There were more than a thousand people touching that game. Then eventually, a month later, we said, 'this is not gonna fly.' Then it takes a few more weeks to decide how we're going to package that news for everyone. It's not just about delaying for the sake of delaying it. No matter how hard we try, we also put out games that are not good quality, unfortunately. It's not because we go out and say, 'great, let's make a piece of junk and put it out there.' It's really painful to us. But some games, you just can't make them that much better because of how they've been progressing. Part of the decision to delay Watch Dogs is also that. We know it's not where we want it to be. Can it get there? What will it take to get there? That's why it takes a longer process. But in August we really thought we were going to have that game at launch."

In any case, it sounds like Watch Dogs could be a possible game of the year contender if it does not get delayed again in 2014.