Watch Dogs 2 Outed By Ubisoft Employee

Watch Dogs could already be a lot further into development than you may have imagined. New information has revealed that Watch Dogs 2 is already a thing... well, according to a recent update on a Ubisoft employee's Linkedin page.

Videogamer.com managed to spot the update over on Linkedin for senior gameplay programmer Julien Risse, who is currently working out of the Ubisoft Paris studio.

Following the revelation of the game on Risse's profile, Ubisoft quickly had Risse update the profile to remove the listing of Watch Dogs 2. Videogamer took things a step further and reached out to the company for a comment, but Ubisoft declined to comment on the event.

Previously, Ubisoft did mention that there was definitely room for improvement on the Watch Dogs formula. The game came barreling onto the scene with a ton of hype during the E3 2012 presentation that turned out to be more PR fluff than an actual representation of how the game would play on home consoles.

After the disappointing news about the game's visual downgrade and the realization that the gameplay was solid but left a lot to be desired as far as activities and mechanical depth went. One of the biggest and most meme-worthy aspects of the game was that hacking was just one button. Players could effectively blackout the entire city of Chicago with just a single button tap. While quick-time events are oftentimes frowned upon when used too frequently during cinematic sequences, hacking quick-time events could have helped add a bit of diversity and depth to the game.

For instance, before being able to disable a light at an intersection players would first have to pull up the map and remote hack the lights at the intersection using a little quick-time mini-game; that way when it comes time to make a getaway they'll know to drive through that intersection to instantly activate the pre-hacked light. Things like that could have helped add a bit of layered depth to the gameplay so it didn't feel so much like a Grand Theft Auto clone.

It wasn't all bust for the first Watch Dogs, though. Ubisoft nailed the competitive multiplayer aspects down pretty good and that could have gone sideways a thousand and one ways. Thankfully, the hacking invasion sessions turned out to be one of the game's strongest highlights, so at least the team will know where to work from when it comes to advancing the multiplayer aspects of Watch Dogs 2.

The driving and vehicular antics in the game were nothing too special, but the physics definitely felt a bit more weighty than the more arcade physics that GTA V sported (and yes, modders are still working hard at decrypting GTA V on PC so they can finally modify the handling files and bring a more realistic feeling to the driving mechanics in the game). However, it would be nice to see a bit more diversity in how hacking can be used in connection with vehicles and AI to create a more immersive environment, such as taking control of remote drones, or disabling police sirens during a high-speed chase, or other trollishly fun things of the sort.

Anyway, there's a ton of room for Watch Dogs to expand and Ubisoft has said as much. I'm sure gamers would at least be interested to see what they have in store for the open-world hacktion game.