Three of Ubisoft's biggest upcoming 2020 releases have been delayed. It's being reported that Watch Dogs: Legion, Gods & Monsters and Rainbow Six Quarantine are all now scheduled for the company's 2020-21 fiscal year, meaning they could arrive anytime between April 2020 and March 2021.
Watch Dogs: Legion was previously scheduled for a March 6 2020 release, while the Zelda-inspired Gods & Monsters was slated for February 25 2020. Rainbow Six Quarantine, meanwhile, was scheduled for early 2020.
It's not entirely clear why this decision has been made, though Ubisoft co-founder and chief executive officer Yves Guillemot has said in a press release that it's to allow more time for the development teams to get things right - at the expense of the company's business interests, it seems.
"We have decided to postpone the releases of Gods & Monsters, Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Watch Dogs: Legion until 2020 to 2021," he explained. "While each of these games already has a strong identity and high potential, we want our teams to have more development time to ensure that their respective innovations are perfectly implemented so as to deliver optimal experiences for players."
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"This decision will have a very significant impact on our financial results for this fiscal year and goes against our recent successes in building a more stable development model," he continued. "However, it is in line with our strategy to maximize the future value of our brands for the longterm benefit of our employees, players and shareholders. We expect it to have a positive impact on our financial performance as from 2020 to 2021."
This decision could very well be in response to the middling sales and poor reviews that Ubisoft saw after the recent launch of Ghost Recon Breakpoint - a title which many have criticised for feeling unfinished and broken in various places.
During our hands-on preview with Watch Dogs: Legion we enjoyed what we saw of the game's open-world London and praised the idea of being able to take control of any NPC (including a taser-wielding grandma).
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Having said that, we acknowledged that it was early days for the project and that it is undeniably a truly ambitious idea. So if Ubisoft is willing to invest more time to make sure it's everything it needs to be, you won't hear any complaints from us.
We'll have to wait for official word on just how delayed each title has been, but hopefully the damage isn't too bad.
Featured Image Credit: UbisoftTopics: Watch Dogs Legion, Ubisoft