Ubisoft’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, Tony Key, spoke for the company in defending the delay of Watch Dogs. As he explains it, the move hurt the company for sure, but they did the right thing and they knew it.
So, Tony points out, they felt the consequences of making that delay, putting a stop to marketing, shifting everything towards a new timetable, changing plans with retailers. It was an additional cost on top of what they were spending to make the game.
On top of that, Ubisoft felt a stock drop the day they announced the delay. That recommunication with the public was a necessary step to help raise consumer and investor confidence and bring it back up. While we’re sure many of you readers are still wary with Ubisoft over this, they did do enough to raise investor confidence, which was a grievous matter for them.
The decision was made late, and they knew it would make everything difficult. When it came right down to it, though, Ubisoft thought of the long-term, and in that frame of mind, they had to delay Watch Dogs. In Tony's words, they 'had no other choice', to make sure that they would get it right.
If there was one upside from the delay, it was that they had raised awareness for the game, but Ubi knew better than to claim there was no such thing as bad press coverage. Ubi can cite a rise in preorders, and hopefully, the product we get meets raised expectations.
Watch Dogs is coming to Windows, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, and Xbox One on May 27, and on Wii U this coming Fall.
