With only about a month until the highly anticipated title was slated to release, Ubisoft sent shockwaves through the gaming community when they announced Watch_Dogs was delayed until Spring 2014. However, in addition to that very disappointing announcement, they also revealed that another of their titles, The Crew, had been pushed back.

It's not unheard of for Ubisoft to announce a delay for one of their upcoming titles — practically every non-Assassin's Creed Ubi release has been delayed — but two games at the same time suggests something is brewing at the publisher. Apparently, they are not only looking to maximize sales, but are positioning themselves to be a major player in the next-gen.

While, obviously, Watch_Dogs is the bigger news as far as Ubisoft delays go — especially considering how close we were to its release date — The Crew is still a title we were looking forward to coming out of E3 2013, and it's a shame we will have to wait that much longer to get our hands on it. At the same time, we hadn't seen much from The Crew since E3, so it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Ubisoft wanted a little more time with it.

In their press release Ubisoft revealed that instead of November of this year, Watch_Dogs is now targeting a release some time during Q1 of Ubi's fiscal year 2014, which takes place between April 1st and June 20th. For The Crew, they hope to have the game out during their second quarter (our third quarter of the year), which starts on July 1st and goes until September 30th.

With The Crew, Ubisoft is looking to deliver an open world racing title with emergent gameplay and a sprawling recreation of the continental United States. That alone is an ambitious undertaking, and one that presumably requires a ton of developmental effort. And while what we played at E3 2013 had promise, it was clear that The Crew was very much a work-in-progress. With that in mind, it's much easier to accept that the game needs a few more months in the oven.

As Ubisoft also mentions in their press release, the publisher's "long term goal is to win the next generation," which means ensuring there's a new Ubisoft title on store shelves every few months. This Fall they have Assassin's Creed 4, then next Spring Watch_Dogs will hit, followed by The Crew, then another Assassin's, and then The Division, which now seems like a 2015 release based on Ubi's current schedule. Yes, the delay of Watch_Dogs is a huge disappointment, but it could be the best move for Ubisoft in the long term.

How do you feel about Ubisoft delaying The Crew into Q2 of 2014? Was this delay just as unexpected as the Watch_Dogs' delay?

The Crew is now targeting a Q2 2014 release for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.