The emotions surrounding Watch Dogs have been mixed, a mixture of hype and disappointment, excitement and fatigue. Despite those mixed feelings, Ubisoft is very confident in how Watch Dogs will perform, stating in their conference earnings report that  Watch Dogs is the most pre-ordered new IP in Ubisoft’s history, the second-highest pre-ordered Ubisoft game ever, and the most pre-ordered new IP in the industry this year. This was supported by GameStop, who claimed that Watch Dogs is the most pre-ordered current-gen game to date.
As Geoffroy Sardin, Senior VP Sales and Marketing at Ubisoft explained, “These strong pre-orders are a clear indication of players’ anticipation and excitement for Watch Dogs. The teams have worked tirelessly to ensure that players will enjoy a top quality game with enormous scope, and we can’t wait to get the game into their hands.”
Despite the praise and claims, Ubisoft declined to detail the exact numbers, stating instead that they expect Watch Dogs to outperform the first Assassin’s Creed in terms of sales. As Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, told GamesIndustry, “We expect [Watch Dogs] to become a major heavyweight of the industry.”
This was further supported by Michael van den Berg, vice president of Merchandising at GameStop International. “We are seeing tremendous excitement for the new Watch Dogs game… It is on track to be one of the top selling video games across all consoles in 2014.”
Watch Dogs is set to release on May 27 for the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and for the WiiU at a “later date.”
