Skip to main content

Watch Dogs 2 confirmed, coming out before April 2017

Watch Dogs
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Watch Dogs 2 is in development and will be released by the end of March, 2017, publisher Ubisoft announced Thursday. Ubisoft broke the silence on the sequel’s development by listing the sequel among the tentpole releases for the 2017 fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017. According to Eurogamer, Ubisoft also expects to release culture-clashing brawler For Honor, and a pair of previously announced sequels, South Park: The Fractured but Whole and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: WildLands, during that period.

For Honor, South Park: The Fractured but Whole, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: WildLands, the next installment of Watch Dogs, and a new high-potential AAA brand with strong digital live services.”

The news comes hot on the heels of the public announcement that it will not publish a new entry in the Assassin’s Creed franchise in 2016, making this the first year the company has gone without releasing a new game in the franchise in more than five years. A report from Kotaku about the next Assassin’s Creed game suggested that Ubisoft may look to Watch Dogs to fill the gap if the publisher decides to permanently slow the series production schedule.

Though Ubisoft had not officially announced that a Watch Dogs follow-up was on the way, creative director Jonathan Morin all but confirm the game’s existence during an April, 2015, interview with Games UK.

“With a sequel, there is more pressure to push a brand forward and we now have to appeal to fans in a new way,” Morin said. “You have to carry on taking risks.”

A Ubisoft programmer also spilled the beans by listing it on his LinkedIn profile back in 2015. Then again, the game sold nine million copies between May and October, 2014, so a sequel was basically inevitable.

Editors' Recommendations

Mike Epstein
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Michael is a New York-based tech and culture reporter, and a graduate of Northwestwern University’s Medill School of…
Volgarr the Viking 2 will take you back to your Ghosts ‘n Goblins days
A viking slashes a tree in Volgarr the Viking 2.

Developer Digital Eclipse is working on a surprising project: Volgarr the Viking 2. The 2D retro sequel will launch on August 6 for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The news is an out of left field reveal. The first Volgarr the Viking game released in 2013 and was made as an ode to 1080s classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins. Despite being a small release, it sold over 1 million copies over the past decade. As revealed during today's Guerrilla Collective stream, the series is coming back with a new sequel by Digital Eclipse, the team behind this year's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.

Read more
3 Days of Play PS Plus games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Key art for Streets of Rage 4.

June 2024 is shaping up to be a pretty great month for PlayStation players. Not only are we coming off an entertaining State of Play showcase, but a new Days of Play initiative surrounding all the video game showcases this month is bringing a lot of new PS Plus additions with it. Many of those games hit PS Plus this week, and three in particular stand out to us.

For owners of Sony's oft-neglected PlayStation VR2, the first game is one of its rare exclusives that take full advantage of the headset's eye-tracking by seeing how often players blink. The next is a new PS Plus Essential game that's a revival of Sega's classic beat-'em-up series for the modern gaming era. Finally, the last title is an atmospheric and eerie fishing game that should entice fans of Lovecraftian horror.
Before Your Eyes

Read more
3 first-party Xbox Game Pass games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Gears 5 Kait Hero Close Up

Microsoft will hold an Xbox Games Showcase and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct. this Sunday. These shows will provide a much better idea of what to expect from Xbox over the course of the next year or two. That's really needed right now, as Microsoft has struggled to keep online discussions around Xbox positive as it went multiplatform with some games, laid off thousands of developers, and outright shut down the developers of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall. Based on leaks and my personal expectations for the showcase, there are three games you can play on Xbox Game Pass this weekend to prepare for the event.

The first is the latest first-person shooter in a long-running series by id Software that might be getting a medieval-set spinoff. After that, we have the fifth entry in a sci-fi Xbox series that still looks fantastic on Xbox Series X/S even though it came out in 2019. Finally, you can prepare for Avowed with the latest RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, a satirical sci-fi game where player choice is critical.
Doom Eternal

Read more