Launch Sales Of Watch Dogs 2 Significantly Down On Predecessor, Ubisoft Responds

UK numbers company Chart-Track has revealed that week-one sales of Watch Dogs 2 were down a whopping 80 percent over its predecessor in the United Kingdom, after Ubisoft’s open-world sequel entered the weekly charts in second place behind Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

Exact sales figures weren’t disclosed by the analyst, though considering that Infinite Warfare is currently in its third week of release, Eurogamer claims that Watch Dogs 2 likely sold in the region of 80,000 units at retail. Its predecessor, meanwhile, sold through almost 380,000, thanks in part to the pent-up demand two years ago.

It’s by no means the first time that a sequel has under-performed in the charts; just recently, Dishonored 2 failed to emulate the success of Bethesda’s original stealth title, while Respawn has been fairly vocal about Titanfall 2‘s lowly sales. In fact, despite reigning supreme in the UK all-formats chart, Infinite Warfare also succumbed to a stoop in sales when compared to Black Ops III.

Circling back to Watch Dogs 2, though, the lower-than-expected sales prompted Ubisoft to release an official statement, which was relayed by Eurogamer.

“We’re incredibly happy with critics’ and players’ very positive reception of Watch Dogs 2, which should bolster support for the long-term success of the game. It is true that first-day and first-week sales for a number of big games, including Watch Dogs 2 and titles from our competitors, are comparatively lower than previous versions in previous years.

“However, we expect both week-two and week-three sales to be above traditional sales patterns. There is a trend toward games, especially high-quality games, having stronger and longer ‘tails’ as favorable reviews and word of mouth spread. Watch Dogs 2 is already considered a tremendous addition to the open-world action adventure series and we’re confident that millions of players are going to love it.”

Watch Dogs 2 is available now across all platforms. In typical Ubisoft fashion, it’s riddled with Easter eggs, with some containing potential clues about both the next Assassin’s Creed game and an all-new space title called Pioneer.