Watch Dogs delayed until Spring 2014

The next-gen open world hacker game Watch_Dogs has been delayed until Spring next year.

The Ubisoft-published game, which had been set for a release at the end of this month on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC and Wii U, has often been considered as one of the most anticipated games among the line-up for the next-gen consoles since its reveal at E3 2012.

In a press release announcing the delay, the development team at Ubisoft Montreal said: “Our ambition from the start with Watch_Dogs has been to deliver something that embodies what we wanted to see in the next-generation of gaming. It is with this in mind that we’ve made the tough decision to delay the release until Spring 2014.”

The game has been in development since 2009, and has been described by Ubisoft as a “truly next-gen adventure”.

The team’s statement went on to say that the delay was necessary in order to ensure the game was as good as they could make it: “We know a lot of you are probably wondering ‘why now?’ We struggled with whether we would delay the game. But from the beginning, we have adopted the attitude that we will not compromise on quality. As we got closer to release, as all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in our last push before completion, it became clear to us that we needed to take the extra time to polish and fine tune every detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience.”

The team closed the release by assuring gamers that the game would be worth the wait, saying: “We are confident you’ll love this game as much as we love working on it.”