Watch Dogs Was Originally a Driver Game, Claims New Report - IGN - IGN

Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs series originally started life as a game in the Driver franchise, according to a new report.

As detailed by VG247, a source within Ubisoft has revealed that Ubisoft Montreal was originally developing a new Driver game, rather than creating a new IP. Much like previous Driver game Parallel Lines, which involved on-foot segments and shooting, this new Driver game was similar to Grand Theft Auto in design. The new addition, though, was hacking.

“The game that was released as Watch Dogs started life as a sequel in the Driver franchise, but was always largely what you see in the final product,” the source told VG247. “It was always modern day, it had on foot, parkour, combat as well as driving, all set in a large open-world city, and the main hook was always modern technology and hacking. After a while trying to make this concept fit into the Driver franchise, the decision was made to turn it into its own, new IP.”

Have you played Driver: San Francisco?

A second source, a former Ubisoft employee, told VG247 that this game was transformed into Watch Dogs after Driver: San Francisco failed to generate many sales. “They just did their own thing and convinced Yves [Guillemot, Ubisoft CEO] he could have ‘his own GTA’ instead of the low selling Driver,” said the source.

The first source disputes this version of events, stating that it was the hacking elements that led to the change from Driver to Watch Dogs. “It took it too far from anything that felt like Driver,” said the source. “They couldn’t make the concept fit with the franchise.”

Back in 2013, IGN interviewed Ubisoft North American president Laurent Detoc, who revealed that the Watch Dogs engine was originally built for Driver. “I wouldn’t say that Driver became Watch Dogs, because that’s not true.” said Detoc at the time. However, this new report suggests that this is not the whole story.

Our Watch Dogs review from 2014 shows how impressed we were with its blend of open world, driving, and hacking. We gave a similarly high score and praise to Driver: San Francisco, the last game in the series. But with Driver gone, it does seem like Watch Dogs will continue; its latest entry, Watch Dogs Legion, has introduced numerous new elements to the hacking sandbox, although seemingly at the expense of the more prominent driving elements seen back in the first game.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiVmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lmlnbi5jb20vYXJ0aWNsZXMvd2F0Y2gtZG9ncy13YXMtb3JpZ2luYWxseS1hLWRyaXZlci1nYW1lLWNsYWltcy1uZXctcmVwb3J00gFcaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaWduLmNvbS9hcnRpY2xlcy93YXRjaC1kb2dzLXdhcy1vcmlnaW5hbGx5LWEtZHJpdmVyLWdhbWUtY2xhaW1zLW5ldy1yZXBvcnQ_YW1wPTE?oc=5

2021-05-24 14:10:08Z
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