Watch Dogs 2 Features DirectX 12 Support; Will Be Highly Optimized for AMD

Ubisoft has officially confirmed Watch Dogs 2. They also revealed in the same announcement that Watch Dogs 2 would have full DirectX 12 support.

[sammarshall102]

Watch Dogs 2 should be one good looking game

[Summons75]

Well let's hope they focus on fixing the gameplay before they focus on visuals or else they are going to have another flop on their hands.

[Ricegum]

Lol, Watch Dogs flopped? I remember there being a bit of fuss about a visual downgrade but I'm pretty sure it didn't flop.

This is great news for me as I thoroughly enjoyed Watch Dogs.

[freshslicepizza]

watchdogs has a great premise, i expect #2 to be much better than the first.

[TwoForce]

Unreal01 Well, I'm enjoyed Watch Dog for sure. But they need to fix the story, gameplay and other stuffs. Because some of them can be force.

[georeo]

Watchdogs didn't flop! Sales rise.I enjoyed the game.

[OB1Biker]

I found the gameplay was alright even though they should improve it. I think Ubi d better focus on meaningful content (no silly mini games), meaningful story in an immersive setting and that includes yea better graphics. I found the characters very last gen tbh I mainly mean also good animation with believable characters

[bloop]

I didn't think the gameplay was all that bad. Shooting, cover and free running I thought were all very solid but driving was poor and hacking was poorly implemented. The story and boring repetitive side quests were what really let it down. Some side quests like the gang hideouts were really enjoyable but there wasn't enough of them and 90% of the rest of the side quests were filler. Overall I'd probably give it a 7.5, but here's hoping they can pull an AC2 and make the sequel a 9 or 10.

[Crazyglues]

@ Summons75

Watchdogs Flopped...LoL -(exactly how is shipping 9 million copies a flop) - http://www.gamespot.com/art...

[cbuc1125]

@Summons75....The game sold 9 million copies.

[donthate]

What is wrong with Watch Dogs game play?

I thought it was decent.

[aconnellan]

"Well let's hope they focus on fixing the gameplay before they focus on visuals"

I hope gameplay is always a priority, but with that attitude I feel like you almost want it to flop. If you remember, Watch Dogs caught considerable flak for not focusing enough on the graphics, hence the 'downgrade' debacle

[fr0sty]

"Highly Optimized for AMD"

One thing I don't miss about being a PC gamer. Having a monster rig and then realizing the publisher struck some backroom deal with a competing hardware manufacturer so that the game won't run as well on my system.

[starchild]

Although not perfectly executed I think Watch Dogs was still a good game. If they build from there it could be a truly amazing game.

@ Fr0sty

Except that usually doesn't amount to much difference in actuality. Most of the time the difference is pretty minor.

[bouzebbal]

who cares about DX12 or DX14 if the game is boring and not interesting?

[GHOSTxx420]

Maybe this one will be what the 1st one should have been.

[Psychotica]

Well if it's as "boring" as the last few games I will be very happy..

EDIT: Whoops was supposed to be with the next comment. Really need a delete comment option..

[Mr_cheese]

That's what happened with assassins creed, the second one always felt like it should have been the first game, it was a much better, varied game.

The visuals out he first where still astonishing, they just didn't expand the gameplay

[RedDeadLB]

And boring and will probably run horribly.

The usual Ubisoft formula.

[zidane1341]

The division is fun and runs near perfect.

[starchild]

You must have a crappy PC. Most Ubisoft games run just fine for me, and many of them are among the best looking games I've played on PC.

[RedDeadLB]

Um, no, I don't have a crappy PC (i5 3570k @ 4.2GHz, GTX 970), Ubisoft does crappy PC ports. Their CPU utilization is horrible and the cause for many performance issues across games like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed, even including Watch Dogs.

[Niceman91]

Not upon release it won't...

[Muzikguy]

I won't be duped a second time. Ubisoft have shown me how bad they are the entire gen so far. Poor decisions, always online games to hinder graphics, bad plots and characters, amazing reveals to coincide with downgrades....

I just rented RB6 Siege because I had a free rental and wanted so see of it was any good. I'll just say that I'm glad I didn't pay for that. I had more fun with Vegas.

No matter how good this game is Ubisoft won't be getting a purchase from me

[ThunderPulse]

Seige was a great multiplayer game imo.

[WilliamSheridan]

They did good with The Division...

[brokenbracket]

@WilliamSheridan.... they did ok with The Division, but it's currently unplayable by tens of thousands of people because the game automatically crashes when you launch it. I was one of the lucky few who haven't really ran into any game breaking issues. However, the way they're handling hackers right now is unreal. To have paid $100 and the PvP area (Dark Zone) is basically unplayable in the state it's currently in.

[zidane1341]

@brokrn bracket: Wtf are you talking about? None of that Is true.

[XanderZane]

It begins. Hope they have something to show at the E3.

[hiredhelp]

Day 1 buy for me my wife

[One-Shot]

Click baity title. We knew this existed so nothing "officially revealed". Only news is it will be using DX12 and be optimized for AMD cards.

[Volkama]

Which we also already knew, as Ubisoft and AMD confirmed it in one of the GDC panels.

[NerveGearneeded]

most people didnt watch gdc panels

[DopeTech]

Now I hope they really deliver on this one, Watch Dogs 1 was a very good game but lacked things that make it a GREAT game or should I say...a 9 out of 10 rating game,.

And that EVIL DOWNGRADE, well, I can't blame them because PS4/XB1 aren't capable of producing those graphics, simple, but I hope they show us something that's on par (or even better) with what was shown at E3 2012 and the PS4 Reveal, that old build felt like something new and felt NEXT-GEN.

E3 2016 HERE WE COME!! Can't FREAKIN wait!!

[chrisx]

Ubisoft, Suprise me and make a very good sequel

[Gwiz]

Ubisoft and PC,unfortunately not a good marriage.

[Volkama]

U-Play kinda sucks as a platform, but the PC versions of Ubi games always trump the console versions by some distance. Even the 'broken' ones.

[starchild]

Yeah, at least they bother to enhance their PC versions. Unlike a certain Japanese company known for making challenging action RPG games, for example.

[starchild]

I don't get this thinking. I've played probably a dozen or more Ubisoft games in the past 5 or 10 years and the vast majority of them have run perfectly fine on my PC. Unity was probably the roughest once at release and even that wasn't too bad, just somewhat glitchy.

Ubisoft does tend to make some of the most graphically advanced games of any 3rd party developer/publisher, so those games therefor justifiably tend to be more demanding to run. But people shouldn't confuse how demanding a game is to run with being poorly optimized.

[Saijahn]

Watch Dogs was a good game when we get over the visual downgrade and lack of simple mechanics. I hope they really improve the base game for Watch Dogs 2.

[marioJP87]

My PS4 or PC is ready. Pretty sure my PC is more ready.

[RiseofScorpio]

Denuvo is a given sadly.

[ONESHOTV2]

Very smart ass comment keep it to your self. Not all pc gamers are pirates i have 400+ games ready to be played never pirate any

[Tobsesan]

meh

[WongAidan]

Who cares, the first game completely sucked!

[MagicBeanz]

One of the most universally hated games out there and they're going to make another one, uh ok.

[Kalebninja]

WTF? Go checked user and critic reviews again, the game is far from universally hated.

[MagicBeanz]

The game got nothing but hate all over the place for not delivering on a myriad of promises, reviews aside the game was the focus of a ton of hate, in fact it may have been the original downgrade gate game. Maybe you missed all the articles and discussions about it but it happened just the same. Listen I bought the game and actually liked it, I'm just surprised a game that people crapped on so much would get a sequel that's all.

[Dark_Vendetta]

Because it sold a sh*t load of copies ... unfortunately. I will wait for the release before dooming the game, maybe they learned from their mistakes (on the other hand, its Ubisoft :( )

[kraenk12]

Who most of the times vastly improved on their games with their early sequels...Far Cry 2-3, Assassin's Creed 1-2 for example.

[deafdani]

@kraenk12:

and Red Steel 2, which was a fantastic successor to the mediocre Red Steel.

[starchild]

The problem some of you have is you take these comment sections too seriously and think they represent reality. In actuality they are a nearly insignificant part of the wider gaming population. A few dozen vocal haters can seem like a lot when they keep repeating the same thing on a site you visit, but in many cases they don't reflect the views of the majority of gamers.

Watch Dogs was both critically and commercially successful.

[FoxyGotGame]

Game creativity/content more important than Watch Dogs 2 visuals ...just sayin.

Happy Easter/Holiday Everyone!

[UltraNova]

Well good, I suppose?

[Artemidorus]

Won't make any difference on Xbox One it's so weak you'll be lucky to see 1080p.

[zidane1341]

Oh stfu with that 2013 BS. More games have came out in 1080p the last year then haven't. You Sony fans need to stop living in the past

[Artemidorus]

It's 2016 and they still throwing out 720p games with the upgrades.

Stop being so deleuded.

[Haru]

Actually there wasnt any 1080p game relased on xbone this year as far as i know while almost every single PS4 that comes out is 1080P

[bixxel]

Until any number of dogs are added to the game, like Fallout 4 which are highly interactive and serves many purposes, I won't be entering the hype train for this game.

[kraenk12]

There is huge potential in this series. I hope they fix the boring driving.

DX12 at the moment is hardly a feature...no game on PC or XBox has seen any performance gains yet. In parts even the opposite.

I sure hope it pays off in the end so I won't regret I upgraded to this unspeakably ugly Win 10 anymore!

[TheCommentator]

I liked the way the article assumes that the game will be optimized for AMD cards, when it could easily support FL12.1 features as well. DX12 was designed so that devs could build to the highest level and the software would scale to the features of the computer it was running on. AMD's cards will perform better because async compute gets used, but DICE and several others agree that FL12.1 features such as hardware accelelerated Rasterization and Raster Ordered Views will be will be a game changer as well and should not be overlooked.

[zidane1341]

Windows 10 is the best windows in a long time. And there are several games that take advantage of direct X 12. Just cause 3 and tomb raider are just two.

[kraenk12]

In recent benchmarks the DX12 version of Tomb Raider even had lower FPS. So...not really.

And Win 10 may be fast and optimised but it's still freaking ugly. I don't know what they were thinking. It's so bad I decided to do everything except gaming on my Mac from now on.

[Scatpants]

I hope you can wear different outfits other than Canadian metrosexual guy trenchcoats this time.

[EazyC]

SubwaySexual

[jay2]

Ubi fed up. They should have shown a teaser

[StormLegend]

Please let the graphics look current gen this time! No last gen ports or huge downgrades.

[starchild]

I don't know what you are talking about. Watch Dogs was a really great looking game and, the PC version I played at least, looked as good as any other open world game at the time.

[LrryLegend]

Well I'm probably in the minority, but I absolutely loved the game and I did everything I could in the game possible, almost. I also enjoyed the DLC that came out later. The only thing I didn't like playing that much was that drinking game, but it wasn't forced on me so I am definitely looking forward to the next installment of the series.

[sk8ofmnd]

Who even asked for this?

[Lord_of_Cinder]

I didn't liked the first one. Hopefully this one could be better but I doubt it.

[cfc83]

Ubisoft aren't streetwise enough. Their u.i is too cheesey. To me if you want to make a gritty game you need gritty characters and a proper script. None of this waving arms out the window and shouting 'thank you very much for saving my life'.

[XboxInnovation]

Beast box direct x12 is the truth. Meanwhile PlayStation fans are walking around with ski goggles on their head.

[kraenk12]

PlayStation 4 already is using an API that us even closer to the metal than DX12. Oh, you were just hating anyway. Sry

[travestyj]

While Xbox gets left in the past with no exclusives and weaker hardware.

[WolfDevin]

Watch Dogs 2 was actually officially confirmed back in February. Regardless, I thought the first one had some very good ideas and I really hope they go all out on this one. Looking forward to this.

[quent]

Watch dogs didn't need to be an open sandbox game its strengths lied in the indoor stealth/hacking segments, there could be a lot more focus and polish go into the game if they just drop the whole "openworld sanbox" thing,I mean why not hub based like Deus Ex HR for example.

[Tumaras]

It's good news to hear more confirmation that it's coming. I'm hoping Ubi has finally learned their lesson on releases and getting them right. Watch Dogs or AC Unity being bad examples of good games plagued by early issues that kind of ruined them. The Division being at the other end of the spectrum as as good release.

Also, I'd like to see the game design on Watch Dogs 2 improved. Beyond the bugs (and plenty still exist today tbh), some of the game design in Watch Dogs was really incredibly strange. Like save this person being robbed, then hack and rob their bank account and steal their car. It was always like they changed their minds 1/2 way through development from you playing as a bad guy to instead playing as a good vigilante, and they just left both in. Or if they want to leave those choices on how to play in, have more repercussions from the good or bad decisions than there were.

[Pullmywaffle]

Great, i'll be sure to skip it until it hits $10, just like the first one did fairly quickly. First one ran like ass on nvidia and amd, so why the push to side with one company is mind blowing. Just make the game RUN.

[thricetold]

The graphics never bothered me or the "downgrade" so many pixel pixies moaned about. Nope, it was the forgettable lead character, the lack of real customization of the character and the terrible driving.

I mean you feel no difference when driving in the streets and you go over a curb. Nothing. No real sense that you indeed are driving period. And zero car customization. Made for a really boring game.

[Segata]

Wait for the downgrade and then a mediocre rushed game.

[Naughty_Cloud]

I can't wait for the reveal trailer....................... not really :P

[Maximilliam]

Ughhh the first game wasn't even that good to begin with. This is one of those times when closing a studio due to a failed project is a good idea.

[starchild]

In your opinion, perhaps. But the game had a positive critical reception and sold extremely well, so they probably aren't going to care about the vocal minority.

[kevnb]

Seems like dx12 adoption will be fairly quick thanks to the marketing hype that comes with it, good news.

[spoonard]

I expected to see more AAA games optimized for AMD on PC since all the consoles have gone to AMD. Devs could cut costs by doung so I'd think.

[spoonard]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first game. The hacking mechanic was a breath of fresh air I thought, and could be used in some really creative ways.

[supes_24]

Great news! I loved Watch Dogs. People complained about a lot of mechanics such as driving, but I thought the game was amazing and never had any issues. This is a definite pre order for me.

[namEuser]

its going to be the same song and dance...DX12 this, DX12 that, the Xbox One is going to continue to struggle and not happen to have some miracle cure thats going to make any games look outstanding. I am a Xbox One owner and i have been extremely disappointed this generation. This industry is at a stale in terms of graphical fidelity that we all as gamer's expected...we all expected that leap that we received when the industry went from the Super Nintendo-Sega Genesis, to the Nintendo 64-Ps1. Next Gen will be the expectations we we;re waiting for...not this one...both consoles are somewhat junk imo.

[corroios]

Watch Dogs 2 downgrade edition coming your way with 15 gigas day one patch, 15 gigas patch second week and so on...

[MasterD919]

I don't know...the first one literally was an abomination gameplay-wise.

[jairusmonillas]

lol watchdogs? Who asked for another one? I rather play GTA V again than that gta wanna be.

[slavish0]

This will be great on my ps4k

[PistolsAtDawn]

DX12 "Support" or built ground up for DX12?

[cyclindk]

Haven't bought:

The Division
Last assassins creed
And wont be getting this either in all likelyhood

Titles have all appeared lack luster and their immediate predecessors had issues

[Funky Town_TX]

Show me the game when it is done, and stay quite until then. Hype kills games. The hype for the first game was crazy and the game did nit live up to it. I played and finished the game but it was not a $60 game IMO.

[antikbaka]

yeah yeah, and all this POWDER OF DA CLOUDZ, and QB in 1080p 60fps..another crap based on nothing but words

[Chexs1990]

Have to be honest, i really enjoyed the game. Was it the best game of all times? No. It was a fun alternative to GTA, albeit with the most mundane protagonist 'of all time'.
I for one, am looking forward to the sequel, hoping that they make another "AC story". You know, where the first one was kinda good, but the second one was a masterpiece :D

[JMyers]

Given Ubisoft's history of downgrading, and the whole PC fiasco with Watch Dogs' graphics parity upon release I would wait until the game is out.