Pachter Says Ubisoft Were Worried That GTA V, COD And Battlefield Would Hurt Watch Dogs

Famed Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has responded to the news that Watch Dogs has been delayed until spring 2014. Pachter says that Ubisoft were genuinely worried that Grand Theft Auto V, Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 would eat into sales of the company’s Watch Dogs. Pachter concluded by saying that Ubisoft has given its developers the opportunity to fully maximise the game’s sales potential and build a lasting franchise that the company could use to offset any future weakness for its established key franchises.

We believe that management was also concerned about the strong competition for wallet share Watch Dogs faced at the holidays from Grand Theft Auto V, Battlefield 4, and a new Call of Duty, among others.”

“Grand Theft Auto V is only adding to industry uncertainty, as while it is bringing many previously-disconnected gamers back to the market, it also has achieved record-breaking sales that have tapped a certain percentage of gamer holiday spending months ahead of time. Given next-gen uncertainty and this very strong slate of competitors, we believe the two aforementioned delays were the right decision.”

“By releasing Watch Dogs in Q1:15, Ubisoft has given its developers the opportunity to fully maximize the game’s sales potential in FY:15 and build a lasting franchise that the company could use to offset any future weakness for its established key franchises (displayed most recently by the disappointing Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist).

“We are somewhat concerned about competition in Ubisoft’s Q1, however, with games like EA’s Titanfall, Activision’s Destiny and Microsoft’s Halo 5 all targeting the same launch window. We don’t think it is important that Watch Dogs (or any of the other three games) launches in Q1, and we expect all of the game publishers to behave rationally when setting release dates to avoid competition wherever possible.”