The 3-day Watch Dogs: Legion early access period has been reportedly canceled, removing one of the benefits for pre-ordering the premium editions of the game. Ubisoft is also allegedly looking to move away from offering early access periods for its games altogether.
“Since the announcement of Watch Dogs: Legion last year we’ve worked to refine the content of the game’s premium editions with additions and adjustments to improve the player experience,” began a statement highlighted by Niko Partners Senior Analyst Daniel “@ZhugeEX” Ahmad on Twitter.
“The Season Pass has been enhanced to offer players additional story-based content while still delivering the premium characters and cosmetics from the original pass,” the reported statement continued. “Additionally, all editions of [Watch Dogs: Legion] will be released simultaneously on [October 29, 2020]. As a result, the ‘3 days early access’ has been removed from the Gold, Ultimate and Collector’s Editions of [Watch Dogs: Legion].
Previously, a 3-day Watch Dogs: Legion early access period was touted as one of the benefits for pre-ordering the more expensive editions of the game. At the time of writing, the official Watch Dogs: Legion pre-order comparison chart still lists a 3-day early access period as a benefit for people who pre-order the Gold Edition, Ultimate Edition, or Collector’s Edition.
The reported removal of the early access period may come as a surprise to some. Three days is an awfully small early access period and it seems strange to cancel this tiny early gameplay opportunity just a few months before the game is supposed to launch. Additionally, Ahmad has suggested that Ubisoft will no longer be doing 3-day early access periods altogether, though this isn’t suggested in the portion of the statement he revvealed.
While the more expensive editions are losing the Watch Dogs: Legion early access period, the Season Pass is gaining more story-based content instead. The Season Pass is included with all three editions that would have gotten the 3-day early access period, so everyone who would miss out on this first chance for gameplay is getting something else instead.
We’ve reached out to Ubisoft and will update this post when we receive a response.
Ubisoft no longer doing 3 day early access on its games. pic.twitter.com/y1jzHkoYWz
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) July 13, 2020
