Ubisoft has explained the Watch Dogs delay has “made a big difference” to the final game.
The studio would have been forced to scrap several in-game systems if the game hadn’t been delayed from its original November 2013 release date.
In a GDC 2014 interview with CVG, Ubisoft’s VP of Creative Lionel Raynaud revealed that the game has been significantly improved by the delay.
“It’s made a big difference – we’ve polished everything,” said Raynaud. “The things we’ve developed the most are the interactions with hacking, and how in many situations being smart with chain reactions can offer something unique from any other open-world game.”
“If we weren’t able to deliver this aspect, it wouldn’t feel new enough to be worth a new IP.”
In fact, the Watch Dogs teams would have been forced to save some features for the game’s sequel, without the additional development time.
“There are always things that you have to keep for the next game. In this case the extra time allowed us to put a lot of our ideas into the game, so we are happy with that.”
“There were several systems that were not going to be in the game if we released in November. There’s always the discussion of ‘should we leave them for the sequel, or do we take the time to finish them?’ And we decided to take our time and do it right.”
However, there are some larger concepts that have been deliberately saved for the next game, in order keep the game’s consistency.
“Some ideas that we weren’t able to get into the game would not have made a difference, while other, bigger ideas that naturally emerged during development were so different that we felt they would have changed the experience.”
The Watch Dogs release date has finally been confirmed for May 27 on the PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. A Wii U version is still coming, but will be released at a later date.
Read more: Xbox One vs PS4
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
