‘Watch Dogs’ 1080p 60fps PC Settings: Ubisoft Explains Why They Didn’t Use Them

The Watch Dogs 1080p 60fps PC settings have been there since the game was released, but Ubisoft decided not to use them. Gamers who saw the early demos (which practically sparkled with detail) were expecting to at least see the highest definition graphics on personal computers, and they were let down.

Mirroring the fact that the game failed to achieve the current gen graphics benchmark even on the PlayStation 4, it looks like Ubisoft has some explaining to do. They have done just that.

Despite not reaching the 1080p 60fps benchmark on any of the available platforms, Ubisoft’s open world hacker adventure has still managed to become the bestselling original franchise in history. That honor might have gone to Mario Kart 8 or Guinness World Record holder Grand Theft Auto V, but both of them were sequels. Watch Dogs is an entirely new franchise, despite basically being a combination of nearly every major game released in the last year, as previously reported by The Inquisitr.

Ubisoft explained on the game’s official website why they decided against the Watch Dogs 1080p 60fps PC settings:

“The dev team is completely dedicated to getting the most out of each platform, so the notion that we would actively downgrade quality is contrary to everything we’ve set out to achieve. We test and [optimize] our games for each platform on which they’re released, striving for the best possible quality.

“The PC version does indeed contain some old, unused render settings that were deactivated for a variety of reasons, including possible impacts on visual fidelity, stability, performance and overall gameplay quality.”

This drop in performance hasn’t stopped modders from unlocking the Watch Dogs 1080p 60fps PC settings, though. On that particular platform there is always a workaround if you know how to alter the code. Using the enhanced settings in Watch Dogs, some gamers have unlocked the visuals first seen in the E3 2012 debut demo.

Watch Dogs PC Modders Find Hidden “E3” Settings, Improve Performance #gaming http://t.co/fbZq2TlI2B

— Good Gaming (@goodgaming) June 17, 2014

Ubisoft continued to address the gamers who often modify game code:

“Modders are usually creative and passionate players, and while we appreciate their enthusiasm, the mod in question (which uses those old settings) subjectively enhances the game’s visual fidelity in certain situations but also can have various negative impacts. Those could range from performance issues, to difficulty in reading the environment in order to appreciate the gameplay, to potentially making the game less enjoyable or even unstable.”

What Ubisoft is saying is that if you unlock the Watch Dogs 1080p 60fps PC settings through code manipulation, the game could suffer from slowdown in intense situations or even crash.

Would you risk it to see the game perform at its best, or would you rather play it safe and not mess with Ubisoft’s settings?

[image via kotaku]