Following Ubisoft's huge restructure, leakers can't decide whether the Watch Dogs franchise is dead or not

Watch Dogs had so much promise. The first two entries were fantastic, urban open world games with innovative quests and an anti-establishment message that we see so little of in modern games outside of Final Fantasy 7. Watch Dogs Legion had a clever central gimmick, but being able to play as any NPC hindered its ability to tell interesting stories. Still, that shouldn't be enough to leave the entire franchise for dead. Depending on who you listen to, Ubisoft might have already dug Aiden Pearce's grave, but the leakers can't seem to agree.

The first piece of information comes from Tom Henderson, someone who regularly reports on the goings on within Ubisoft. On the Insider Gaming podcast, he says that the Watch Dogs franchise is "completely dead." It's a devastating blow to fans of the cyberpunk-style adventure, which undoubtedly deserved better. It's one of the most underrated sandbox series of its generation - possibly longer.

But there may be a lifeline. Despite Henderson's certainty that the series is over, his claims have been parried by fellow leaker 'Shinobi,' who simply responded to a Resetera thread about the apparent cancellation with the phrase, "not exactly."

They later confirmed that they're not talking about the forthcoming film adaptation, but gave no further information. Henderson responded in turn, saying on Reddit that Shinobi must be referring to the "coterie," which is nothing more than a group of passionate devs within Ubisoft who still create fanart and "basic R&D at this moment in time."

That doesn't sound "completely dead" to me, but it doesn't sound like a greenlit game, either. However, Shinobi responded to this comment, too, saying, "That's not what I'm referring to," but again refusing to elaborate. With neither willing to go into more detail, all that's left is for us to peer through the murky waters and hope to see signs of life.

It's impossible to say what's actually going on with Watch Dogs, but leakers are clearly hearing different things. With Ubisoft currently in turmoil after canceling six games and its share price dropping to its lowest point in 14 years, the company's internal decisions could change on a daily basis.

I could see a Watch Dogs remaster in Ubisoft's sights, but surely that would have been cut alongside far more finished Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed remasters? Even a 60fps update to the original game would go a long way in the modern climate.