According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Ubisoft has opted to drop the Watch Dogs trademark. As a result, a slew of rumors have begun circulating that Watch Dogs has been cancelled, is joining another franchise, (e.g. Assassin’s Creed or the Tom Clancy franchise), and so on. It’s rumors that Ubisoft certainly does not want circulated concerning its next big IP – especially after the debacle that happened at the end of last year when Watch Dogs was delayed until sometime in 2014.
Luckily, Watch Dogs isn’t being cancelled. According to Ubisoft Montreal’s official Twitter account, in response to a fan freaking and tweeting that Watch Dogs has been cancelled. Seriously, this guy was flipping out:
@griffmeister69 @gooner4life_uk I can assure you that Watch_Dogs is still being polished as we speak. cc. @Ubisoft
— Ubisoft Montréal (@UbisoftMTL) February 3, 2014
Ubisoft responded with the following:
“I can assure you that Watch Dogs is still be polished as we speak.”
The Sixth Axis suspects that Watch Dogs is actually being rebranded into an Assassin’s Creed title, which kind of makes sense since Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogsexist in the same universe. Watch the video below to see some Watch Dogs references in Assassin’s Creed IV (warning: possible spoilers).
Long story short though? The events of Watch Dogs seem to be taking place almost simultaneously with the modern-day events in Assassin’s Creed IV.
Ubisoft has also stated that they are planning for ten years of Watch Dogs, meaning they are likely going to release Watch Dogs annually in the same way as Assassin’s Creed, or alternatively they are going to alternate annually between the two franchises. Thus, it kind of makes sense that Watch Dogs could be used as a way to further the story of what is happening in the modern-day world set in the Assassin’s Creed universe, effectively ending the transition between modern-day and historical settings in future Assassin’s Creed games.
Therefore, Assassin’s Creed games would be reserved for only historical gameplay without any modern-day setting and vice-versa for Watch Dogs.
But wait: Assassin’s Creed doesn’t have a main story arc. Ubisoft is kind of inventing new stories as they go along, so will this change when Watch Dogs is released later this year? Who knows.
Some are also stating that the game could be joining the Tom Clancy franchise. It probably isn’t, but still, it’s a rumor floating around at the moment.
In the end, the dropping of the Watch Dogs trademark could be as miniscule as Ubisoft opting to change the spelling of ‘Watch Dogs.’ It could certainly continue to be in its very own universe sans the Watch Dogs easter eggs in Assassin’s Creed IV, or it could be spun off and treated as an extension to the Assassin’s Creed universe. Whatever happens, know this: it hasn’t been cancelled, you will still get to hack everything in the world, and most importantly, all signs point to it still being awesome!