Watch Dogs, New IPs Drawing Crowds
By Martin Benn
Watch Dogs has had a successful launch for Ubisoft, selling more in the first 24 hours than any other title in their stable. It did so across five different platforms in PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC with a Wii U version to be out this Fall. Due to this performance, the likelihood of Watch Dogs receiving a sequel is absolutely guaranteed. Personally, I think this could prove beneficial to Watch Dogs moving forward as many of Ubisoft’s other franchises have gotten better with time. This is also good news for Ubisoft as they continue to launch new IP this year.
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As we do with every new console generation, a bevy of new IPs that are cross platform or solely coming to PS3 and Xbox 360 have and continue to come out. Child of Light,The Crew, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Valiant Hearts, and Watch Dogs are all new IP or new iterations of an existing IP that have been released this year or will be released this year. Those games all have one thing in common: They’re published by Ubisoft and they have all been rated rather well as they make their rounds of the internet.
Even though my colleague here at GameSided didn’t much like the game, with Watch Dogs, Ubisoft plays with reckless abandon in terms of branching established ideas into their new games. Far Cry 3 was much improved using some of the various ideas about zones from Assassin’s Creed and some of those same systems are in place in Watch Dogs. Child of Light benefits greatly from the Rayman games platforming. South Park takes classic RPG elements and implements them smoothly with the rest of the usual South Park candor.
Every year people complain of being bludgeoned with sequels and Call of Duty. Throughout the first half of 2014, Ubisoft and other major publishers have also taken this opportunity of mixed old and new consoles to try out new games like Titanfall and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, soon to expand to PlayStation platforms. Those two games have bolstered EA with more middle class hits as well. Additionally, Activision seems to be betting the farm on Destiny. While all three of these games are shooters, they are remarkably different in tone and have presented unique systems that make them variably different from the rest of the marketplace.
As they have made the rounds around the internet, all of the new IP mentioned have garnered general critical and commercial success with The Crew, Destiny, and Valiant Hearts yet to release. Let’s hope that Ubisoft and EA’s success continues forward and other publishers take note on how to take calculated risks with new IP as well.
What do you think about the new IP that has launched or prepared to be launched this year?
The views expressed in this article explicitly belong to the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of, nor should be attributed to, GameSided as an organization.