Watch_Dogs, The Crew Delayed Until 2014

 Ubisoft has moved two of its current/next-gen titles until next year. The open world hacker Watch_Dogs and MMO-style racer The Crew have both been moved to Spring 2014. WD had an initial holiday release window to premier alongside the new consoles while The Crew, despite not having a firm release date, was originally slated for early next year.

In a post on the UbiBlog, Watch_Dog's developers spoke on the delay: "We struggled with whether we would delay the game. But from the beginning, we have adopted the attitude that we will not compromise on quality. As we got closer to release, as all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in our last push before completion, it became clear to us that we needed to take the extra time to polish and fine tune each detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience."

This is a major bummer, and understandably a disappointment for folks looking forward to hacking Chicago (myself included). Ditto for The Crew, which had me hooked since Ubisoft's demo back at E3. Still, it's much better that a game take its time through development than be shoved out faster than your drunk uncle was onto the back alley of that one pub Saturday night. Both situations aren't pretty, and often times the end results contain a lot of shame. And tears.

Anguish.

-- Ubiblog, IGN, Destructoid

Side Note - Both Amazon and Gamestop have said that they'll still honor pre-orders of the Playstation 4 bundle that came with Watch_Dogs. Amazon said via Twitter, "Don't worry if you pre-ordered the Watch Dogs PS4 bundle, you will still be getting your PS4 based on your current delivery estimate." A follow-up tweet added,"your console pre-orders are safe," and that more information is coming.

Gamestop released this statement:

"With the news that Ubisoft has delayed the release of the highly-anticipated title Watch Dogs until next year, GameStop is contacting customers who had reserved PlayStation 4 and Xbox One bundles featuring the game. Customers can elect to keep their current bundle orders and their consoles will ship as scheduled with the game shipping separately once it is available, or customers can choose another bundle to replace their current order. Customers should also note that there may be a difference in the price if selecting another bundle and that all reserved orders will be charged upon shipment."

Despite the delay, Target is still pushing the bundle, while Best Buy has yet to update. They still show a release date of November 19.