Watch Dogs, Ubisoft’s next generation open world action adventure game, is hitting the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC next month, with a release on the Wii U to follow some time later this year, and Ubisoft has amped up its massive marketing power already. Today, they announced //n/DARK, an ebook by John Shirley, a prolific author with over 30 works to his name, that will function as the sequel to the game.
“Working on Watch Dogs was enormously interesting to me because its world offers the convergence of cyberpunk and the edgy tech reality of our times; it all plays out with action and energy against the inner city backdrop that I thrive in” said John Shirley. “With hack tech in one hand and gun in the other, Aiden Pearce is a believable fusion of hacker and action hero who deliberately slips between the cracks of society to relentlessly pursue his agenda. The novel introduces Mick Wolfe, an ex-military, who get caught in a dangerous game in Chicago’s hyper connected and violent underground. Working with Thomas Geffroyd and Kevin Shortt at Ubisoft to develop the book was a rocking experience – Ubisoft is right out there on the frontier of videogame development. I couldn’t ask for more inspiration”.
Of course, for players interested in the story, this does create the natural question of spoilers, particularly since the novel goes up the same day as the game. Still, it’s nice to see Ubisoft are at least working on expanding the universe.