Watch Dogs has been delayed into spring 2014, Ubisoft announced today, along with a delay for The Crew, it’s open-world racer. Due to the delays, the company has revised its financial expectations for fiscal year 2014.The Watch Dogs delay includes all versions, per the following statement from the Watch Dogs team:
“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 every detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you. We thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the way you respond on the web, at events, press conferences and during other opportunities we have to interact. Your passion is what drives us.
“We can’t wait to see you in Chicago next Spring. We are confident you’ll love this game as much as we love working on it.”
The Crew was previously planned for release in fiscal year 2013-14, and is now scheduled for fiscal year 2014-15, meaning it may not see a release until April 2014 at the earliest.
Developed by Ivory Tower, The Crew is an open-world racer originally slated for release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One in early 2014.
Ubisoft has told Kotaku in a statement it hopes those who “pre-ordered the game will still look forward to playing it in spring 2014,” and that the “extra polish and quality” will add to the game play experience.
Meanwhile, Sony has told CVG it is working “very closely” with both Ubisoft and its retail partners regarding the Watch Dogs PS4 bundle in the UK.
Amazon has said it plans to honor all Watch Dogs bundles this November
