[Updated] Ubisoft Working To Fix Watch Dogs 2 Multiplayer Issues Ahead Of Launch

Update 14:50PM: Making no bones about it, we think Watch Dogs 2 is a great game… but at the moment it has a problem with its seamless multiplayer. Following up on the issues Ubisoft acknowledged in the run up to the review embargo lifting, they have the following statement:

During the pre-launch phase of Watch Dogs 2, we discovered an issue tied to the seamless multiplayer feature that caused the game to lag and crash periodically. In order to eliminate that issue at launch and for players to enjoy a smooth game play experience, we have decided to wait to launch the seamless multiplayer feature until the patch that fixes this issue is deployed. The patch is currently in certification by Sony and Xbox.

In the meantime, players can still play the full single-player experience without any concerns and play co-op by inviting friends through the game menu. But that does mean that the Bounty-Hunter mode and other activities that would occur with other outside players who enter your game will be unavailable until the patch is deployed on each platform.

To follow updates on Watch Dogs 2 and follow the status of the seamless multiplayer, please feel free to visit our Watch Dogs 2 Community site.

The wording is slightly different to what we were told a few days ago, now noting that the game will need a patch in order to fix the issue, and that seamless multiplayer will remain turned off until that patch has passed through certification. Presumably this is being fast tracked, but there’s no specific timeline on when that might be.

We’ll update this story when we know more. The original story follows.

In addition to your usual array of press and streamers, there’s lucky few average punters have been able to get a hold of Watch Dogs 2 ahead of the game’s official launch tomorrow, diving into the game’s brighter, more colourful open world of technology and hacking. It’s a touch ironic that people playing early will have been seeing a note in game regarding the game’s seamless online play.

As reported by Eurogamer over the weekend, and was relayed to us by Ubisoft as we’ve been playing and reviewing the game, an issue was discovered that would make the game lag and crash periodically when seamless online play was enabled. Because of that, seamless online functionality has been turned off for much off the weekend, preventing the lag and crashes from occurring while they try to solve the problem.

On a more positive note, they expect to have fixes in place ahead of the worldwide launch tonight/tomorrow, while standard co-op play where one player invites another to join them should also work fine. In fact, that’s exactly what we did, so you can expect to see our review later today.

Source: Eurogamer, Ubisoft