Ubisoft ties July 12 UbiForward showcase to ‘Watch Dogs 2’ giveaway

By: Ryan Arcadio - 4 years ago

“Watch Dogs 2” contains a compressed vision of San Francisco and several four-person multiplayer modes. Image: Courtesy of Ubisoft via AFP Relaxnews

French-headquartered publisher and developer Ubisoft will be presenting new looks at fantasy-historical Viking action game “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla”, near-future London resistance scenario “Watch Dogs: Legion” and battle royale contender “Hyper Scape” at its Ubisoft Forward showcase on July 12.

Starting at 8:30 p.m. CEST (6:30 p.m. UTC), the entire pre-show, main show and post-show event lasts for approximately an hour and a half, and for most of that Ubisoft is inviting PC gamers to log in with their Uplay account to claim a free copy of “Watch Dogs 2”.

The offer goes live during the pre-show, after a demonstration of racing game “Trackmania”, and finishes at the end of the main show. A post-show segment is scheduled to begin 1 hour and 15 minutes after the pre-show gets underway.

The entire thing will be broadcast through ubisoft.com/Forward, youtube.com/ubisoftna, twitch.tv/ubisoft and, despite the closure of Microsoft’s streaming service on July 22, mixer.com/ubisoft.

Segment start times equate to 11:30 a.m. (pre-show), 12 noon (main show) and 12:45 p.m. PDT (post-show); 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m., and 3:45 p.m. EDT; 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m., and 4:45 p.m. in Brazil; 7:30 p.m., 8 p.m., and 8:45 p.m. United Kingdom; 8:30 p.m., 9 p.m., and 9:45 p.m. CEST and South Africa; then midnight on July 13, 12:30 a.m., and 1:15 a.m. in India; 2:30 a.m., 3 a.m. and 3:45 a.m. in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Beijing, China; 3:30 a.m., 4 a.m., and 4:45 a.m. in South Korea and Japan; 4:30 a.m., 5 a.m., and 5:45 a.m. in Sydney, Australia.

“Watch Dogs 2”, a 2016 open-world action game, was received as a more optimistic take on the “Grand Theft Auto V” model.

It is being followed up by “Watch Dogs: Legion”, currently expected to release by the end of March 2021 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PC and Google Stadia.

A high-profile giveaway of such limited duration is unusual.

The Epic Game Store, for example, is operated by the company behind the enormous console, computer and mobile hit “Fortnite”, with EGS giveaways open for a week.

Nevertheless, EGS struggled when “Grand Theft Auto V” became the focus of attention for seven days in May.

“Hyper Scape”, announced last week, is to open its doors to all on July 12. The Battle Royale exists in the same genre space as “Fortnite” and has players leaping and bounding around Neo Arcadia, a sci-fi vision of Paris.

As well as “Trackmania”, and the beginning of that “Watch Dogs 2” offer, the pre-show also contains content relating to “Ghost Recon Breakpoint”, “Just Dance 2020” and “The Division 2”, while the post-show will bring viewers further into “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla” and “Hyper Scape”.

Ubisoft has been caught up in a new wave of revelations about abusive and manipulative conditions within the video game and streaming industries.

It’s not known if or how Ubisoft might address these grave concerns during the broadcast. One vice president has resigned, another has been placed on administrative leave and a prominent game director has stepped down.

The company’s CEO has promised changes in procedure and the establishment of a comprehensive cross-party working group. RGA

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