History of Ubisoft Game Reveals: Watch Dogs Is Not The Only Game To Receive Downgrade In Visual

GearNuke: "Recently, the internet was abuzz with talk about Watch Dogs, but most of it was negative. As it turned out, Watch Dogs graphics seem to be severely downgraded compared to its initial reveal back at E3 2012. But this won't be the first Ubisoft game to to do so, as it appears, Ubisoft have pulled this act for other games as well."

[Kingthrash360]

i'm starting to think that trailer was a 360/ps3 version...jus sayin. but givin the past of ubisoft it can very well be what we fear...huge downgrade though..smh

[iTehDroiD]

Ubisoft is not extremely stupid. Why should they show the weaker version?

[Am-No-Hero]

Well .. from waht we did see

I think Ubisoft is " Extremely Stupid "

this is not the first time ... Far Cry = Downgrade .. and many games not just ubisoft

Edit :

Sorry .. Even Naughty Dog .. and what they did with Uncharted .. if u remember

[nveenio]

Uncharted looks way better than Watch Dogs.

[RumbleFish]

What's the buzz? R* allways showed bullshots from the PC versions of their games. Even if the PC version did came later. It's a common thing in the industry.
I don't like it too, but it's no surprise.

[csreynolds]

Maybe because Ubisoft needs to promote ALL versions of the game, not just next gen?

Believe it or not, not everyone will be buying this on PS4/XB1/PC...

[listenkids]

Possibly due to it being available on 160 million last gen systems, as opposed to 10 million current. That's about the only reasonable answer, it's likely just a downgrade, but we'll have to wait and see.

[Lior]

To be fair you get what you pay for with these new consoles, they aren't anything special really compared to the advanced architecture of the ps3 when it first came out, I just hope the pc version will be good, there's no reason to tone anything down for pc is there, if your pc isn't very powerful then you should turn some settings down just like any other game

[Visiblemarc]

This is not a good argument when the game is coming out a few months after an open world console game which looks a lot better, Infamous:SS.

Also, this PC-centric gaming thing is getting so tired. There are so many thing which make PCs and consoles different.

This constant return to PC comparison when talking about consoles is like constantly interupting people who are comparing Mercedes and BMW sedans and shouting "they're both pathetic compared to a Ferarri!"

Honestly, the comparison makes no sense.

[starchild]

And yet Ubisoft games like Far Cry 3 and Assassin's Creed 4 are some of the best looking games around. Some people just always have to have something to bitch about.

[nveenio]

I was very disappointed with the graphics in AC4 after getting it free with my graphics card upgrade. (And yes, it's maxed out.) I feel like FC3 looks better...especially the character models.

[Volkama]

It's also a bit harsh to single out Ubisoft, when just about every publisher out there is guilty of bullshots and bulltrailers.

Business as usual in the gaming industry. Judge the end result.

[RE_L_MAYER]

i think it was a mix of ps3 ps4 pc versions so it doesnt look too good or too bad

[MaxwellBuddha]

After what they pulled with Far Cry 3, I'm not buying this until I see some PC footage. There's no reason for it NOT to resemble the 2012 E3 reveal considering it had been in development for FOUR YEARS at that point.

[DemonChicken]

touche ... doing the same, I'll happily wait for a sale/bargain bin edition while I clear my huge backlog. For which doesn't seem to be getting smaller thanks to these steam/amazon/gmg/psn sales plus psn+ =p

[ITPython]

What did they do with FC3? I bought the game (PS3 version) 4 months after it released for $32 off Amazon, and the game was great and played very well. I have no complaints about it.

[Elem187]

FC3 looked fantastic, but some things changed from the initial reveal... But those were pretty minor changes. Watch Dogs on PS4 got a significant visual downgrade.

I don't know why people are expecting the PS4 to be a super computer. It's all very low end tech. A tablet CPU (AMD Jaguar 1.6ghz) mated with the Radeon 7850). The GPU was midrange over 2 years ago. These GPU will be in integrated motherboards by the end of the year, that's how low tech they are (the xBone's GPU is already in integrated motherboards)

[DaGR8JIBRALTAR]

It's the same trailer on the xbox 360 dashboard, just really hoping they come thru for the next-gen versions. If not, no big deal...I just won't buy it.

[AgentSmithPS4]

If it's worth buying I'll buy it, but the price I pay for it depends on the quality of the game, the amount of censorship, etc...

I'm hoping Diablo III finally comes to the PS4 :|, we've waited long enough and that game will help pass the time until these new games prove themselves.

[bub16]

All I read about this game is bad stuff now

[mochachino]

It's really all about the weather and swaying trees and such. The weather made the world look very alive and believable.

What we have now is another static environment.

[oODEADPOOLOo]

Your one fancy ass hipster monkey, you know that?

[Skate-AK]

You're*

[oODEADPOOLOo]

wow i just complemented him and i get 8 dislikes, lol.

@state A-K
thanks for the tip, grammar nazi.

[csreynolds]

"Nazi", being a proper noun, should be capitalised - as should "I" (first-person pronoun) and "Wow" (being the first word of a sentence).

Regards,
Someone who still cares about the sanctity of the English language

(THAT'S being a grammar Nazi)

[Elem187]

Uhh the PC versions they showed at E3 2012 and E3 2013 had dynamic lighting, all of that is removed in the latest PS4 videos of watch dogs. It looks like an uprezzed PS3 game now.

[curtis92]

Where was it confirmed in that watchdogs gif with the orange car and crappy graphics was from the ps4 version? Is it not possible that's the ps3 version?

Edit: if you don't know, disagree.

[DeadIIIRed]

I admit I haven't seen any firm confirmation either, but I would think at this point if it wasn't the PS4 version then Ubisoft would have said something less vague about the issue.

[Skate-AK]

Ubisoft PR said it was PS4 gameplay on twitter.

[Elem187]

The one with the orange car that looks like a PS2 game came from Gamespot. They released a hands on preview with the PS4 version of watch dogs. That's why we have confirmation it's been severely downgraded.

[monkey48]

I hope some how this is a marketing scheme to make us hate the recent trailer, then showing us the real next gen trailer that's going to blow us away.

We can only hope right?

[stavrami]

don't care day 1

[kingPoS]

What does this mean for The Division?

Gateway MT6706 2008

[DaGR8JIBRALTAR]

It means prepare to be disappointed....

[DC777]

Of all the games shown The Division looked by far the best. I doubt they can pull that off on a console and I even doubt they can pull it off on anything other than a very high end pc. https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[Iamnemesis4880]

This game looks rushed to me they had to pull the game last year for who knows and now it looks like GTA4

[e-p-ayeaH]

GTAIV looks better actually...

[Enyxodin]

Boycott watch dogs showing ubisoft that this is not acceptable and they need to learn and adapt!

[MicDude]

Ok, the game has been visually downgraded. There is a reason why. So...why?

[Elem187]

Because the PS4 is low end tech. Everything has received a visual downgrade since initial reveals.... Deep Down got a significant downgrade, Shadowfall, and infamous so far have been downgraded.

I suspect it's the tablet CPU. It's not designed to do floating point operations like your standard CPU in a PC so games with heavy AI will need the GPU to assist in floating point operations, which means less cycles dedicated to graphics rendering, which makes perfect sense.

The Assassins Creed 4 port on PS4 struggled to hold 30fps. A similarly specced PC ran the game locked at 30fps with vsync and unlocked at 40-45fps. Games with heavy AI will need scale backs on the PS4 to keep the frame rate acceptable.

It's a $400 box. It's not a super computer.. The PS3 when it was released was up there with mid to high end computers, the PS4 is running with budget low end PC's. That disparity is only going to grow more quickly this generation.

Best advice is to skip the two sub-Nextgen systems and build a mid range PC, it will run everything on 1080p, high settings, 60fps for the rest of the generation.

[Ravenor]

The PS3 was not up to high/mid end PC's when it released. CoD3 on the PS3 was such a utter mess, seriously go take a look at the 360 v PS3 comparisons. Or better yet take a look at Genji, Gundam: Crossfire, hell even Resistance:FoM looked like ass at launch.

The PS4 and X1 are fine systems and a mid range PC at this point doesn`t have a hope in hell of running games as you described in 5-6 years. Whereas my PS4 and X1 will at least run the thing and look acceptable, just like the 360 and PS3 were just fine right up until the very end. A R9 270 or a GTX 760, will not run AAA games at 1080P 60fps in 5-6 years.

You`re also citing downgrades of reveal/launch window titles, you do realize a lot of these development teams haven't been working with FINAL kits for even a year right? It's just not fair to say "This is what the generation will be!" from a smattering of launch titles.

The PS3 and 360 completely and utterly disappointed me with their launch titles and launch window titles. Playing things like Doom 3, Half Life 2 and Battlefield 2 before the new consoles had even launched stole a lot of their thunder. In the end I was far more happy with both purchases because of the improvements that came with time and development.

Games won't look as good when compared with PC's that have newer more mature hardware. Wow, thanks for letting me know. I'll spread the good word.

[MicDude]

That's what I was thinking. These next gen systems just are not powerful enough to handle the Watch_Dogs of E3 2012 and when Ubisoft realized this they decided the game needed to be delayed. It's not Ubisoft's fault these consoles can barely hit 1080p with their launch titles. It's Microsoft's and Sony's fault. I think that if they put another $100 towards the GPUs then this would not be a problem.

I already went the PC route because I was worried that these consoles would be a bit underpowered considering the price point of each.

[ironfist92]

...am I the only one who cares more about the gameplay than the visuals, or am I just old fashioned in this new aged generation of gamer logic?

[snp]

On a list i'd care about gameplay more, but in open worlds there is something to be said about the details of the design creating a sense of immersion.

Part of the fun for many people of open worlds is simply wandering around in them. Escapism of it. And a big part of what makes them inviting is the details.

The old shots made the game look 'inviting'. Like there'd be fun just walking around the city watching the night effects, the wind etc, enjoying the atmosphere they'd created as a sum of the parts. The new shots/video seems to lack many of the touches that gave the game atmosphere in this way.

I think it's a bit simplistic to make it an either/or gameplay/visuals choice.

[sak500]

I've been playing games since days of pong, atari, commodore 64, amiga, 386, 486, pentium, S3 cards, voodoo cards, ps1, ps2, 360 and xb1.

Every generation brought something better least of all in visuals / audio.. You can still have fun with pong or arkanoid, pacman but it doesn't mean the new gen versions should be simpler to look at or even worse then last gen.

This games is complex no doubt but if you're gonna play a game which looks like ps2 GTA then why shift to new gen paying $400 + and games for $60?

We should stick to 360/ps3 or even ps2 to have fun.

IF this is really the new gen version, i'll be glad to skip it for now and wait till it hits bargain bin.

In comparison GTA V on 360 looks better and really shocked us with teh quality jump from GTA IV and from Ps2 version of GTA III.

Now after checking division's E3 trailer which similarly looks like a high end pc version, i'm doubtful about it's looks on new gen consoles if the leaked gameplay of WD is really from new gen version.

Just bought my fast paced COD killer Titanfall which still looks quite impressive on xb1 with what all is going on and gonna be playing it hopefully for long time

[madworld]

what I did when I saw last trailer Realized that ubisoft just Tricks us since first revealed so I canceled my pre order and exchange it with the new batman game so fuck ubisoft i am not stupid Idiot also the gamers are brilliant people with Passion and love for this industry and they deserve much more than this..

[bam3737]

U know i can understand it happened on the ps3 an xbox 360 but come on thats why we have new consoles an quit trying too trick us we gamers know our shit now this nees too stop....

[cell989]

Hopefully this is a wake up call to their marketing department not to bust this type of BS again. They should have learned from Sony with that 2006 Killzone trailer at E3. Those kind of tactics don't work anymore, gamers aren't that gullible anymore. Show your game when it actually exists not just a cgi trailer to show your "vision"

[kewlkat007]

For what it's worth game on a PC(cheaper games) if you never wanna be disappoint about graphics. If you game on console(cheaper alternative) temper your expectations.

Everyone keep saying new consoles. Which does not mean a damn thing after you take a look at the hardware inside and what devs have to work with from the beginning. Never-mind the beginning of a new console generation.