After 12 Years, Ubisoft’s Most Daring Franchise Is All but Gone

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Ubisoft games frequently receive a mixed response, often because they feel repetitive and many people are tired of large, sprawling open worlds. Ironically, the more Ubisoft tries to update its games and franchises, the more criticism it seems to get from both longtime fans and new players. This isn’t to say Ubisoft games are secretly brilliant, but they often come with a lot of issues that divide players.

This is especially true for the Watch Dogs series, which aimed to compete with Rockstar’s popular GTA games while also bringing fresh ideas to open-world adventures. Ubisoft’s efforts to create something unique were often successful, but the series always felt like it was still developing. Unfortunately, if recent rumors are correct, Ubisoft has now cancelled the Watch Dogs franchise, meaning it likely won’t reach its full potential.

Watch Dogs May Finally Be Dead

Since the release of its second game in 2016, Watch Dogs has been a key series for Ubisoft, similar to Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed. Though new Watch Dogs games came out less frequently than those other franchises, it became strongly associated with the Ubisoft brand and was seen as their competitor to other open-world city games. However, because Legion received poor reviews and didn’t sell well, Ubisoft seems to have cancelled future Watch Dogs titles.

So, I was listening to this podcast with Tom Henderson – he’s usually pretty spot-on with Ubisoft info, though he’s not always right – and he said something pretty shocking. Apparently, Watch Dogs is “completely dead.” Ubisoft has supposedly canceled it internally, and nobody’s talking about it. It’s all happening after a big shake-up at the company and a bunch of other games getting the axe, even some that were almost finished, like the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake. It’s a bit sad, honestly, but that’s what he’s reporting.

It’s important to remember that this is all just rumor and speculation, which is often inaccurate, particularly in the fast-paced gaming world. Ubisoft could always decide to revive the series later on. The Watch Dogs movie is still being made, and could potentially increase the game’s popularity. However, the fact that these rumors don’t feel very surprising suggests that Watch Dogs never quite lived up to its initial promise.

Watch Dogs Should Have Been So Much More

The most disappointing thing about the possible cancellation of Watch Dogs is that we might never see the full potential of the series. The idea of an open-world city where you can cause widespread chaos with incredible hacking is really exciting, and it could have created a unique and responsive game world. It also hinted at a more versatile combat system, letting players approach challenges in many different ways – even without using violence, if they preferred.

The potential for uncovering crime, monitoring people, and interacting with the game world in new ways was a major draw. Watch Dogs initially fulfilled much of this promise, and despite some shortcomings, actions like triggering a city-wide blackout or expertly hacking a car to cause chaos remained consistently fun. Watch Dogs 2 turned out to be a surprisingly strong sequel, largely due to its improved focus on open-world activities and combat, and a move away from the darker, grittier look of the original game.

Both Watch Dogs games innovated the open-world sandbox genre, but they didn’t go far enough. Interactions with people in the game felt shallow, random events were too rare to be meaningful, and the stories weren’t very compelling. The series needed to deepen its gameplay, expand its hacking features, and create a consistent style. Unfortunately, Legion showed the developers weren’t interested in these improvements, leading to a disappointing outcome.

GTA Still Needs An Urban Open-World Rival

Despite its flaws, Watch Dogs offered a welcome alternative to the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto. Good open-world games set in cities are rare, and even the weaker titles like MindsEye and the recent Saints Row reboot don’t quite fill the gap. Just as we need more large-scale, story-focused fantasy RPGs, the gaming world needs a steady stream of modern, urban open-world games. Watch Dogs provided that, and its absence would be felt, even if GTA 6 turns out to be the ultimate experience.

Perhaps most disappointingly, because Watch Dogs: Legion’s focus on letting players control any character didn’t work well and didn’t tell a strong story, we’ll likely never see a true follow-up to the original Watch Dogs idea. Watch Dogs always seemed like Ubisoft’s testing ground for new concepts in open-world games, while they depended on reliable franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry to generate major profits.

With recent installments of Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry not performing as well as previous games, Ubisoft may need to be more cautious with risks. I believe this experimentation wasn’t necessary, especially considering the strong potential of the original Watch Dogs. They could have built something amazing on that foundation instead of adding features that didn’t align with the series’ style or core ideas. It’s unclear what Ubisoft will do with Watch Dogs in the future, but I hope they focus on what made it great – the hacking, the espionage, and the unique, dark atmosphere – to finally show us what the series is truly capable of.

Do you believe Watch Dogs should get a sequel? Share your thoughts in the comments or discuss it on the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-01-30 21:13