Watch Dogs

Watch Dogs (stylized as WATCH_DOGS) is an open world action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released worldwide on 27 May 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, with a Wii U planned for departure on 18 November 2014 in North America and 21 November in Europe.  Set within a fictionalized version of Chicago, Illinois, the single-player story follows a hacker and his attempts to seek revenge after the accidental destruction of his niece. The open world design lets players freely roam, Chicago, which includes the urban city, open countryside, and slums. 

The game is recreated from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on-foot or by vehicle. Players control Aiden Pearce, a highly skilled gray hat hacker who can cut into the "stars", a centralized operating system which manages the hyper-connected city of Chicago, and organized after a Northeast blackout of 2003 was caused by a hack. Participants can opt to act as criminals or vigilantes. An online multiplayer mode is also offered in the game, allowing up to eight players to engage in both cooperative and competitive gameplay in a recreation of the single-player setting.

Maturation on the game began in 2009. As part of their research in the open world, the developers conducted field research around Chicago throughout development and captured footage of the design team. Development duties were shared between many of Ubisoft's studios worldwide.

Sticking to its announcement on June 2012, WatchDogs was widely expected. At departure, it had generally positive feedback, with praise, particularly directed at the game's hacking elements and mission change. The game also received criticism concerning the gameplay, technical issues and graphical quality. Watch Dogs were a commercial success, breaking the record for the biggest first day sales of a Ubisoft game, and becoming the biggest launch of a new IP ever in the United Kingdom at the time. Within a week, the game sold over 4 million copies.