Ubisoft has announced its intentions to release the online component of Watch Dogs: Legion early in 2021. The new open-world stealth action game released in October to decent reviews. Critics, for the most part, enjoyed the game, though they were underwhelmed by the execution of the game's ambitious central concept; namely, the ability to recruit and then play as any NPC in the entire city of London.
Players have also been criticizing the game over performance issues and bugs. It's also been struggling with the gulf between console generations; players are having trouble upgrading their last-gen versions to Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5. To its credit, Ubisoft has been doing a lot of work to improve the state of the game and make it a better experience for all players. Unfortunately, this dedicated post-launch support has come at a cost; Ubisoft has had to pull resources away from the development of the game's online multiplayer mode, which has been delayed to 2021 as a result.
But Ubisoft hasn't forgotten about the new mode. In a recent State of the Game article, the company addressed all of the work it's been doing to make Watch Dogs: Legion better. This includes stability improvements and a fix for save game corruption, a particularly onerous bug impacting players on Xbox Series X/S. Amongst the various patches, Ubisoft also took the time to address the game's multiplayer mode. As of the most recent Title Update, Ubisoft is confident enough in its bug fixes that it has begun taking more steps toward implementing the multiplayer, and is testing it now to ensure a smooth launch early in 2021. Ubisoft also outlined what will be included in the multiplayer mode. Up to four players will be able to explore dystopian London together, tackle new missions and a Tactical Op, and take on a PVP mode called Spiderbot Arena.
If implemented correctly, this mode could be a boon for Watch Dogs: Legion. The game certainly hasn't made as much of a splash as some of Ubisoft's other recent open world titles, like Assassin's Creed Valhalla. In fact, the new hacking game has already been discounted pretty significantly in several places, even though it's less than two months old. While the game itself is just fine as far as reviews are concerned, the poor timing of releasing alongside Ubisoft's recent Viking success has not helped it, and neither have the glitches that Ubisoft is still patching out.
It doesn't seem to be a great time for open-world dystopian sci-fi games. The other such title on the market, Cyberpunk 2077, has swiftly become one of the biggest gaming controversies in recent memory following its launch earlier this month. Gamers are furious with the long-anticipated title for releasing last-gen versions that are all but unplayable, and the huge proliferation of glitches has drastically injured CD Projekt Red's reputation and profit margins; its stock has dropped by $1.8 billion since release. Compared to that fiasco, Watch Dogs: Legion has a lot going for it, and fans of the hacking adventure should be pleased to know that it's well on track to getting its promised multiplayer content early next year.
Source: Ubisoft