Watch Dogs

Watch Dogs (stylized as WATCH_DOGS) is an open world action-adventure third-person shooter video game developed and published by Ubisoft. It was released worldwide on 27 May 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, while a Wii U version was released in November 2014. Set within a fictionalized version of Chicago, Illinois, the single-player story follows a hacker and his efforts to seek revenge after the killing of his niece. The open world design lets players freely roam Chicago, which includes the urban city, suburbs, open countryside, and the run-down neighborhoods that surround downtown.

The game is played 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 hack into the "ctOS", a centralized operating system which manages the hyper-connected city of Chicago, and formed after the Northeast blackout of 2003 was caused by a hacker. An online multiplayer mode is also provided in the game, allowing up to eight players to engage in both cooperative and competitive gameplay in a recreation of the single-player setting.

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

Following its announcement in June 2012, Watch Dogs was widely anticipated. At release, it received a polarized reception; praise was particularly directed at the game's hacking elements and mission variety. The game received criticism concerning discrepancies in graphics performance between marketing and the real game and also concerning the overall gameplay, plot, protagonist, and some technical issues. Watch Dogs was 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. As of 1 January 2015, the game has shipped over 10 million copies. It was followed by a sequel, Watch Dogs 2, in November 2016.