After three action-adventure titles failed to capture players, rumors have suggested that Ubisoft has quietly canceled the Watch Dogs franchise. The series was supposed to be Ubisoft's next big open-world franchise, but it never quite knew what it wanted to be. Three drastically different games led to a pretty mediocre franchise, and no amount of tie-in projects seemed to excite the fanbase. It just seems like there was no audience for Watch Dogs, but that does not mean the series had nothing to offer.

Watch Dogs' gameplay was not unique, but the concepts it played with were. Its futuristic world was interesting, the hacking mechanics were wild, and the multiple playable characters from Watch Dogs: Legion were unlike anything open-world games have done. Even if it never nailed down a direction, the concepts deserve to live on, and the best place for them may be within the Assassin's Creed franchise.

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The Watch Dogs Series Has Struggled to Gain an Audience

Watch Dogs Series (2014-2020)

The first Watch Dogs was a commercial success, becoming the biggest new IP launch in the UK at the time. It brought Ubisoft fans on a dark story of revenge through the streets of a technologically advanced Chicago, giving them full control of the cities' systems. It was a powerful journey, and the hacking mechanics let players run wild within its game world. It felt like the series was going to become another Ubisoft mainstay like Assassin's Creed, but things drastically changed as the franchise progressed.

Watch Dogs 2 completely changed the tone of the series to be wackier, bringing players to a more vibrant open-world. The hacking mechanics were still emphasized and expanded upon, but the game took a very different direction than its predecessor. While many critics liked this change, the sales numbers at launch were considerably lower than the first game. Nevertheless, Ubisoft greenlit a third game taking the Watch Dogs series even further from its roots.

Watch Dogs: Legion introduced an innovative protagonist system that let players control every single resident of London. It was the main selling point, and it ended up being a lot of fun to mess around with. However, everything else about the game was lackluster. It received the lowest reviews of any game in the series, and seems to have ultimately killed any future hacking adventures. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but rumors suggest that the days of Watch Dogs are over.

Watch Dogs Could Live on in Assassin's Creed

Ezio Auditore da Firenze Assassin's Creed

The Watch Dogs series may have struggled to gain an audience, but the concepts it played with could still live on in Assassin's Creed. There are already multiple references strewn throughout both franchises, and many fans have theorized that Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed are set within the same canon. There was even an Assassin's Creed crossover in Watch Dogs: Legion, but Ubisoft has continued to claim they are not connected. However, there is no reason that could not change.

One of the most underdeveloped parts of the current Assassin's Creed games is the modern day storyline. Ever since Desmond died at the end of Assassin's Creed 3, the story has lacked direction. It is a core part of the franchise, and it deserves to be as interesting as the rest of the story. Adding Watch Dogs' narrative to the modern day storyline could be exactly what the series needs. There are already many similarities, and now is the time to capitalize on those similarities. If done right, folding the two franchises into one would only benefit the narrative in the long run.

Not only should the story of Watch Dogs bleed into the modern day sections of Assassin's Creed, but the multiple playable characters system should too. The Assassin's Creed franchise has always played around with the concept of building a brotherhood, and now it should actually let players control said brotherhood. The story should still focus on a specific set of assassins, but Watch Dogs: Legion's systems could let players control as many of them as they wanted.

The future of Assassin's Creed is very bright as Ubisoft develops a slew of new titles for the franchise, but the future of Watch Dogs seems to be less bright. The company seems to be putting all of its focus on its other open-world series, but that does not mean Watch Dogs has to die off. It already feels like a futuristic Assassin's Creed, and Ubisoft just needs to take that a step further.

Watch Dogs Legion is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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