Ubisoft hasn’t exactly had a sterling week. Yesterday, the company’s next-generation blockbuster Watch Dogs saw an unexpected delay, pushing the sales forecast for the rest of 2013 down significantly. It was a hit to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One’s launch lineup that ruffled some feathers, but none have felt a stronger negative impact than Ubisoft itself. As of this writing, the company's stock has fallen 22 percent to $2.27, according to GameIndustry International.
Why experience such a significant punch to the gut after the delay of a single game? Watch Dogs has been garnering a great deal of hype ever since its introduction to the world last year, and with the game releasing on both current and next-generation platforms, the revenue expectations were quite large. It’s a new IP, and one that could very well take the place of Assassin’s Creed as the most marketable Ubisoft franchise. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until early next year to see how much of a success the open-world project really is.
With exclusive content on the PS4 and a launch-day bundle that plenty of people bought into, it seems like Sony will be the console manufacturer that suffers the most from this delay. With games costing as much as they do these days, even the fluctuation of a launch month can cause multiple corporations significant strife.
