The reasonable response to being told that Watch Dogs 3 is in development would be to say, "Of course it is." Watch Dogs is a major, well-known game series that's been reasonably successful for Ubisoft and, like Assassin's Creed and Far Cry, has virtually boundless potential for more. But as PlayStationLifeStyle noted last week, a couple of more specific signs of dogs being watched recently came to light.
First, as we noted in our April Fools' Day roundup, an "admin console" that appeared on the Uplay site for the day enabled gamers to hack into it, Watch Dogs-style, to discover information including a list of unreleased games. (Nome of which could actually be read, of course.) There was also a tweet that appeared briefly on the official Watch Dogs account stating, cryptically, "This is everything," which PlayStation Universe suggested could be the beginning of a viral marketing campaign.
But what really sealed the deal (bearing in mind that this is all strictly speculation, and no deal has been sealed) is a UbiCentral video stating that Sam, the Siri-like assistant built into Ubisoft's mobile app, dropped the dime itself. "Watch Dogs 3 is not finished yet, but from the last early build I tried it's very solid," the app said dutifully when asked about the state of the sequel. "The Dev team works wonders! Can't wait for you to try it!!"
I can't confirm that the Sam assistant actually spoke those words (and yes, it does speak), and if it did, it no longer does: I installed the app and asked about it myself. "You'd think that I'd know what was brewing in the Watchdogs universe with my DedSec contacts, but I haven't heard a blip from them about a sequel," it said in response. "I'll let you know if I get new info on this."
A Ubisoft representative was somewhat more to the point about it, saying, "We do not comment on rumor and speculation."
