It isn't uncommon for games to undergo drastic changes during the course of development. Often, the scope of a project, its mechanics, or any other detail needs to be changed due to challenges in the production pipeline. It seems that Ubisoft's first Watch Dogs game itself underwent major changes, as it was originally meant to be a new Driver game.
According to a new report from VG247, Ubisoft's Jonathan Morin, of Far Cry 2 fame at the time, had conceived an idea for a new Driver game while Driver: San Francisco was in development. However, the poor sales of Driver: San Francisco helped fuel a shift in development, allowing what would become Watch Dogs to be pitched to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot as "his own GTA" rather than another entry in a commercially failing series.
The transformation was similar to another famous story from Ubisoft, where a Prince of Persia game was overhauled into the first Assassin's Creed game, according to one of VG247's sources. However, many of the core concepts had been heavily featured in the scrapped Driver game anyways, including Watch Dogs' famous hacking and parkour mechanics. This sort of transformation – taking an established IP and turning it into something new – is one of the most common ways to get a new franchise out the door, the source says.
As VG247 points out, the DNA of Driver can still easily be found in the final version of Watch Dogs, from its driving mechanics to mission structure. The Driver series has taken a lot of different forms over the years, at times letting players out of their vehicles, and at other times forcing them to stick behind the wheels. Watch Dogs is a clear evolution of the series, even if the name has been changed into a new IP entirely.
Watch Dogs was criticized at launch due to graphical downgrades between its E3 gameplay demos and final version, though it has become an established Ubisoft franchise in the time since, with two more entries releasing since it debuted. The Driver franchise hasn't seen a proper entry since 2011's Driver: San Francisco, though a speedboat game was released for the franchise in 2015.
It's possible that the Driver games come back at some point, potentially in the form of a remake or a reboot. However, the poor sales of San Francisco, coupled with the shared DNA of the Watch Dogs games, makes that seem a bit less likely, unfortunately.
Watch Dogs is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: VG247
