Watch Dogs: Ubisoft says franchise is important, but no new game is in active development
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot calls Watch Dogs an important brand for the company’s future, but reports say no new game is in active development.
According to Game File, there does not appear to be a new Watch Dogs game in active development right now.
The Watch Dogs movie does exist, but it did not have a release date at the time of publication.
What happened
Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot reportedly said that Watch Dogs remains important to the company’s future. The comment came during a conversation with investors, where the franchise was presented as an IP Ubisoft is not letting go of. In IGN’s reporting, the remark was tied to a recent update on the state of the series, while Insider Gaming summed it up as a sign that Watch Dogs still matters to Ubisoft, even if it is not at the top of the priority list.
At the same time, Game File journalist Stephen Totilo reported that there does not appear to be a new Watch Dogs game in active development right now. That is not an explicit confirmation from Ubisoft, but it is the interpretation of Guillemot’s comments within Ubisoft’s current planning. In the available reporting, that conclusion is linked to the lack of a visible new project for the franchise in the company’s recent creative restructuring.
Beyond the games, a Watch Dogs movie is also in development. According to the available information, filming wrapped two years earlier and reshoots followed last year, but there was still no release date at the time of publication. That makes the film concrete enough to confirm that the project exists, but not concrete enough to name a premiere date.
Timeline
2013-11: Watch Dogs was originally planned to release alongside the PS4 launch in November 2013.
2014: Watch Dogs launches as the first game in the series and is later seen as the start of the franchise.
2020: Watch Dogs: Legion releases and introduces the idea that players can control almost any NPC in the world.
2024: Ubisoft reportedly calls Watch Dogs an important brand for the future; the movie still has no release date.
2025: According to Game File’s reporting, no new Watch Dogs game appears to be in active development.
2026-10-05: Reporting again emphasizes that Ubisoft sees Watch Dogs as an important IP, but without a confirmed new game.
Background
The first Watch Dogs released in 2014. Ubisoft had originally planned the game for November 2013, alongside the PS4 launch, and positioned it at the time as a direct competitor to Grand Theft Auto 5. The delay made Watch Dogs an early standout Ubisoft title, as the game was long presented as one of the publisher’s most important new IPs.
The series got a new entry in 2020 with Watch Dogs: Legion. That game stood out for its idea that players could control almost any NPC in the world, a system Ubisoft heavily promoted as a key feature. Fan reception was mixed, but Legion did confirm that Ubisoft had not abandoned the franchise after the first two games.
The current reporting fits a broader pattern in which Ubisoft continues to describe several major brands as strategically important. Around the same period, there were also reports about other Ubisoft franchises such as Rayman, Assassin’s Creed, and Splinter Cell, showing that the company is keeping multiple older IPs in view at once. For Watch Dogs, that does not automatically mean a new game is coming, but it does mean the name still matters internally.
The film adaptation adds another layer. According to the available information, production had already wrapped and reshoots were carried out later, but without an announced release date the project remains in an unclear stage. For now, Watch Dogs is mainly a franchise that Ubisoft continues to mention as a brand of value, while concrete details about a new game or a movie release remain absent.