Ubisoft has delayed Watch Dogs Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Gods and Monsters. All three titles were originally planned to release in the first half of 2020, with Watch Dogs Legion and Gods and Monsters planned for specific release dates of March 6 and February 25, respectively. The decision to make these Ubisoft delays came after the “very disappointing” launch of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, which caused the company to significantly decrease its earnings targets for the 2019-20 fiscal year.
According to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, the company believes Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s poor performance was due in part to a less-than-perfect implementation of the title’s new gameplay elements and insufficient time between Breakpoint and its predecessor. To avoid similar issues with Watch Dogs Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Gods and Monsters, Ubisoft has pushed the games’ release dates to the 2020-21 fiscal year, meaning they won’t launch until late 2020 or early 2021.
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Ubisoft’s analysis of Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s failure did not mention its plentiful microtransactions, which outraged the community when the game hit early access. Ubisoft subsequently removed some of Breakpoint’s “time saving” microtransactions, saying they were planned to be included for players catching up later in the game’s life and were not meant to be available at launch. These microtransactions led to low user ratings on Metacritic. Critics also scored Ghost Recon Breakpoint low, criticizing the game’s glitches and repetitive tasks, leading to a PS4 Metacritic score of 55. Guillemot said the three Ubisoft games being delayed all have strong identities already, but the company wants to make sure they are able to launch in a better state than Breakpoint.
While Watch Dogs Legion’s “play as anyone” mechanic has made the game look like the most promising Ubisoft open world in years, it’s also one that could potentially present a lot of issues for the title’s gameplay and storytelling (though Watch Dogs Legion will still focus on story, despite its lack of a protagonist). With that in mind, taking more time to polish the title should ultimately result in a better overall experience.
