Ubisoft delays Watch Dogs until next year

Watch Dogs has been delayed until next year, Ubisoft has announced.

The publisher said it did delayed the title to continue development and add further polish, as it did not want to compromise on quality.

The news will come as a shock to many as the open world title looked set to become one of the biggest releases of the year.

The title had been scheduled for release on November 22nd, just over a month away.

“Our ambition from the start with Watch_Dogs has been to deliver something that embodies what we wanted to see in the next-generation of gaming. It is with this in mind that we’ve made the tough decision to delay the release until Spring 2014," read a statement from Ubisoft.

"We know a lot of you are probably wondering ‘why now?’ We struggled with whether we would delay the game. But from the beginning, we have adopted the attitude that we will not compromise on quality. As we got closer to release, as all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in our last push before completion, it became clear to us that we needed to take the extra time to polish and fine tune every detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience."

In a separate announcement, Ubisoft has also announced upcoming racing title The Crew has been delayed. The game had been scheduled for release during the current fiscal year, but has now been pushed until April onwards.

As a result of the delays, Ubisoft has altered its dropped its sales forecasts for the financial year by over $400m to around $995m.

The publisher also expects an operating loss of between $40m and $70m, having expected to report income between $110m and $125m.

"Our long term goal is to win the next generation," read a statement Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot.

"The tough decisions we are taking today to fully realise the major potential of our new creations have an impact on our short-term performance. We are convinced that, longer term, they will prove to be the right decisions both in terms of satisfaction for our fans and in terms of value creation for our shareholders. We are building franchises that will become perennial pillars of Ubisoft’s financial performance. In a context of growing successes for mega-blockbusters, the additional time given to the development of our titles will allow them to fulfill their huge ambitions and thus offer players even more exceptional experiences.

"Fueled by strong momentum for PlayStation 4 and XboxOne, calendar 2014 will see the return of growth to the console market. Combined with the quality of our line-up and our strong financial situation, this growth will allow us to achieve record operating income in fiscal 2014-15 and 2015-16."