14 DAY TRIAL // After the massive controversy surrounding the Watch Dogs on PC graphics downgrade and the hidden E3 2012 visual settings that were uncovered by a mod, Ubisoft has released a statement saying that it only locked away those settings because they could have produced a bad gameplay experience.
Watch Dogs launched on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One last month and, ahead of its release, there were multiple reports about a downgrade in terms of visual quality, as opposed to the stunning first reveal of the game at E3 2012 two years ago.
Ubisoft has fiercely denied this, but a mod that unlocked hidden visual settings tied to the E3 2012 demo of the game popped up earlier this week online. These settings transformed the whole game and delivered a much more impressive experience.
Ubisoft has been silent on the matter, but now it's finally posted an official statement, denying that its team lowered the visual quality on PC on purpose.
"The dev team is completely dedicated to getting the most out of each platform, so the notion that we would actively downgrade quality is contrary to everything we've set out to achieve. We test and optimize our games for each platform on which they're released, striving for the best possible quality," the studio said on its website.
According to the company, the old settings from the E3 2012 build were deactivated because they impacted the game in different ways, from lowering performance values to worsening the quality of gameplay.
"The PC version does indeed contain some old, unused render settings that were deactivated for a variety of reasons, including possible impacts on visual fidelity, stability, performance and overall gameplay quality."
Ubisoft also believes that, while the mod may provide some new visual settings, it can have different negative impacts, so it advises most PC owners to avoid it, as it could end up affecting their experience in bad ways.
"Modders are usually creative and passionate players, and while we appreciate their enthusiasm, the mod in question (which uses those old settings) subjectively enhances the game's visual fidelity in certain situations but also can have various negative impacts."
"Those could range from performance issues, to difficulty in reading the environment in order to appreciate the gameplay, to potentially making the game less enjoyable or even unstable."
While Ubisoft does raise some good points, according to most PC owners of Watch Dogs, the game's performance improved after installing the mod, as the stuttering and framerate drops they had in the original game disappeared after activating the new settings.