140°

The 'Watch Dogs' Delay And What Investors Don't Get About Video Games

At this point, it’s a familiar story. A major release intended as a tent-pole franchise is delayed, and the shares of the publisher go tumbling. It happened with GTA 5, Bioshock Infinite, and now Watch Dogs. Ubisoft Stock fell more than 26 percent when the French company announced it would be delaying both Watch Dogs and The Crew into 2014. Unfortunatley for the skittish investors unloading their stock, this trend just shouldn’t hold true for the games industry.

HighResHero3840d ago

One of the better articles I've read from Forbes.

gpturbo813840d ago

investors.... who needs em'

AbortMission3840d ago

Corporations do. They essentially use the cash from investors to make investments. Ultimately, they are responsible for making profit to those who gave them the money in the first place.

Silver3603840d ago

Majority of companies only see money from original sale of stock. After that it is only the stockholders who see profit on sale of stock.It is a nice way though for officers of the company to get paid more by getting shares instead of taxable cash.

LordHiggens3840d ago

Wait stock drops after a delay by THAT MUCH??!! I guess I know when to buy some stock!

Truehellfire3840d ago

I know right? I find it so odd that people who invest money in a company have no idea how that industry works. A delay!? I better sell my stock, even though a delay doesn't amount to lost sales. Chances are they will make more money now. Ubisoft now has a major game releasing every few months, instead of a bunch of games releasing around the same time.

Yomaster3840d ago (Edited 3840d ago )

While I'm sure this statement applies to games like Bioshock and GTA V, we should probably take a look at Ubisoft's track record with delayed games.

While I'm a pretty big fan of what Ubisoft typically puts out, they are arguably one of the biggest offenders when it comes to delaying games. Rainbow Six: Patriots, delayed indefinitely. Splinter Cell: Conviction and Blacklist were delayed numerous times, as was Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. And these are just as of late.

It's not just one major release from Ubisoft that was delayed for fine-tuning, either. It was TWO. I call bullshit, Ubisoft. Needless to say, I probably won't be purchasing Watch_Dogs after these continued shenanigans. You can't hype a game like Ubi did all year and then delay it a month from release, especially when it's touted as a next-gen launch title.

DestinyHeroDoomlord3840d ago

If a delay makes you reconsider purchasing a game, then you probably didn't have that high of an opinion on said game

Yomaster3839d ago (Edited 3839d ago )

Oh, no, I thought Watch_Dogs looked amazing. But, like I said, I'm not going to continue to support a publisher who constantly delays games in this fashion. There has been no publisher in the recent years that has delayed as many games so many times.

While there are circumstances to delay a game that I completely understand, Ubisoft utilizes this excuse far too often. It's an automatic response for them. "We're delaying the game so it's of better quality." That's an extremely broad statement that holds no explanation whatsoever.

Keep in mind this is coming from a fan of Ubisoft titles. If you don't already know these things about Ubisoft, you simply haven't been paying much attention to them in all these years they've been around.

Like I mentioned, if the problem was with the quality of Watch_Dogs, then why was The Crew also delayed? It seems they don't want to lose sales by competing with their own releases. Assassin's Creed is coming out, and most gamers aren't going to consider buying three titles from one publisher in a month.

Read my comment to LostPotato below.

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70°

The entire WatchDogs series is 87% off and it's not even Black Friday

If you are looking for a bargain, check out the huge discounts across the entire WatchDogs series on Steam.

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200°

Watch Dogs Deserves A Remake, More Than Ever

With the world of information and technology, privacy and security growing every day, Watch Dogs deserves another chance in the spotlight, now more than ever.

RaidenBlack1000d ago

The only Ubi title that deserves a faithful remake right now is Splinter Cell 1.
All 2014+ Ubi titles are just underwhelming. Especially ones from 2016+ are just cancer.

LucasRuinedChildhood1000d ago (Edited 1000d ago )

Seriously, are we so far removed from Ubisoft actually making good games that people now praise Watch_Dogs in retrospect?

"Watch_Dogs has remained one of my favourite games of the last ten years." Jesus Christ.

HankHill1000d ago

I remember being so disappointed in Watch Dogs when I played it at release. It was alright, but I think I fell for the hype and I needed a game to play on my new PS4.

obidanshinobi1000d ago

This is what happens when mediocrity gets praised as good.
Standards are slipping across the whole entertainment industry.
What was once considering rubbish is now considered as OK, what once was OK is now being praised as good etc etc.

LamerTamer1000d ago

Everyone has their own likes. I liked it a lot myself. I played through it twice and liked the car chases and the open world with fairly decent environments and missions. It suffered from the whole downgrade thing where they showed graphics that weren't actually there. No game will appeal to everyone but it was still ambitious for it's time.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1000d ago
gantarat1000d ago

assassin's creed 1 should get a remake.

ExBee1000d ago

For certain! AC1 was brilliant at the time but with new graphics and gameplay it would be amazing! Do you prefer old combat or new though?

RaidenBlack1000d ago

I'd say a reimagining of AC1.
I direct AC1 remake would be a bad idea. It'll need better story pacing and significant better world building.

BlaqMagiq11000d ago

Old. Let it play like how it did with AC2-Syndicate style gameplay but refine the setting and story.

Profchaos1000d ago

It would need a lot changed for it to be enjoyable again as even back in 2007 on launch we were all complaining about it's repetitive gameplay go here perform one of three side quests repeat then assassination now do it over and over until a big battle with a unforgiving checkpoint system.

BlaqMagiq11000d ago

Absolutely. It needs it. The only AC I truly didn't enjoy.

chicken_in_the_corn999d ago

I'd prefer it didn't. Ubisoft would make it so bloated, it wouldn't be anywhere near the original

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 999d ago
smolinsk1000d ago (Edited 1000d ago )

Absolutely, this watch dogs legion was terrible boring.

Profchaos1000d ago (Edited 1000d ago )

As a fan of the franchise legion was garbage and I regretted my purchase for the first time in the franchise the entire thing felt like an experiment in NPC behaviour and released without the writers input on what makes a good story.

I don't think I'm alone in that feeling though as wrench and Aiden are brought back and the campaign was rewritten to fit them.

I am tempted to buy the season pass to play it again with Aiden but fool me twice shame on me I'm waiting for a deep sale

camel_toad1000d ago

Agreed. Despite the annoying hipness of the characters in part 2 I thought it was a really fun game. I was extremely disappointed and surprised at how many steps back they took with Legion. You'd think it was made by an entirely different team. Or was it?

It was just so devoid of fun.

LamerTamer1000d ago

Honestly one of my biggest annoyances with Legion is that they took out the camera views for the driving. I mean the behind the car view that they stuck us with is near unplayable. I always used a first person driving view. After two releases why did they take OUT features? I don't get it.

TheSinsibleOne1000d ago

The fist watchdog game was the best by far
After that they weren't weird and annoying with that hipster stuff. Aiden was a badass.

LamerTamer1000d ago

I thought so at first too. I got used to it and it ended up being good after some play time. I just had to give it a chance.

TheEnigma3131000d ago

Remake the PoP series from xbox/ps2/gc era

RaidenBlack1000d ago

They are remaking Sands of Time.

TheEnigma3131000d ago

That's good news. Hopefully it's done right.

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290°

Inside the Driver game that died so that Watch Dogs could live

From VG247: "When cars slide, they leave tyre marks. In a game like Driver, they’re an aesthetic touch, part of the inherent cool of a handbrake turn. But those dark shadows in the road also tell a story. From tyre marks, you can determine the speed of a vehicle, when it started to skid, and its ultimate direction of travel – long after the car itself has vanished into the distance."

vallencer1065d ago

Different spellings in different parts of the world friend. Tyre is a correct way to spell it.

Pridefall1064d ago

Dunno why you got downvpted when tyre is correct in Australia.

mikefizzled11064d ago

The mystery that is En Fore Gee

neutralgamer19921065d ago

Give us driver San Francisco remastered

IGiveHugs2NakedWomen1065d ago

Why did they stop making some of the best games ever? Driver was one of them.

Gameseeker_Frampt1064d ago

Assassins Creed 2 showed Ubisoft how to make money and Far Cry 2 showed them that gamers don't like complex ideas. Now Ubisoft just turns out games that are just variations of the same thing.

WeAreLegion1065d ago

Best driving mechanics ever made. Nothing has come close.

Gardenia1065d ago

A story driven game with pure driving gameplay. I'd love to see a new Driver game or a remake of the first one.

ApocalypseShadow1065d ago

Yes. This one. A definite remake of the first without adding any ridiculous fluff. The first game had great physics and sound for its time. The start of the car in the beginning cinema I watched constantly. My father and uncles were big muscle and classic car freaks. Only thing crazy about the game was the relentless cops in the last level. Insane the way those police cars were and launched at you.

Bleemcast made it look better just like PC emulators. But would definitely take a remake.

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