‘Watch Dogs’ Is A Massive Hit For Ubisoft, Officially Becomes A Franchise


One thing’s for certain: Expect more Watch Dogs installments in the near future.

The buzz surrounding Ubisoft’s latest open-world action game definitely helped pay off in the long run. Although some people weren’t overly impressed with the experience, this didn’t stop the company from moving an impressive number of copies during the first week of release.

According to the Daily Star, Watch Dogs sold approximately four million copies during its first seven days on retail shelves. This essentially makes it one of the most successful launches in gaming history.

“The results we achieved in the first week of launch are amazing and prove Ubisoft’s commitment to developing new blockbuster IP and thoroughly new-gen experiences,” company sales director Darren Bowen explained.

Not surprisingly, Ubisoft recently announced that Watch Dogs is officially a franchise. In fact, Gamespot reports that work has already begun on the next installment of the series. However, it’s unclear if the company intends to crank out sequels as fast as Assassin’s Creed.

“With such strong sales momentum and positive feedback from gamers, ‘Watch Dogs’ has positioned itself as the must-have game of the moment. We’re really proud of this achievement, and are confident that the ‘Watch Dogs’ brand has a promising future. We have a movie deal already for ‘Watch Dogs.’ So yeah, I’d call it a franchise.” Ubisoft marketing executive Tony Key recently explained.

Although Watch Dogs took over half a decade to develop, apparently the company is hoping to get a sequel on retail shelves in a much shorter timeframe.

Creative director Jonathan Morin told Eurogamer earlier this year:

“It’s certainly not going to be the same amount of time if we ever embark on such a journey. A big part of it was defining whatever ‘Watch Dogs’ is. Once you have that starting point, then what becomes interesting is what players want more of — what comes next? Especially with the delay we have just been really concentrating on getting it [the original ‘Watch Dogs’] launched. After that we’ll see where it goes — I think Ubisoft is showing more and more that they’re willing to take the time for it to be right.”

Unfortunately for Watch Dogs fans who can’t wait to see what’s in store for hacking hero Adrien Pierce, we don’t have a release date for the sequel as of this writing. Are you happy that Ubisoft plans to turn the game into a full-blown franchise? What would you like to see more of in the follow-up?

[Image via Ubisoft]

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