Watch Out for Watch Dogs‘ New Release Date

Mark your calendar and book a flight to Chicago – Watch Dogs begins its crime spree this November.

Ubisoft’s open-world hacking game Watch Dogs has been keeping quiet on its release date. Until now, that is – the most recent trailer is sprinkled with some new hints about the game’s storyline, along with a concrete release date. North American players will be able to step into the shoes of protagonist Aiden Pearce on November 19, with European gamers joining three days later on November 22.

Watch Dogs will launch on those dates for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the Wii U (confirming that Nintendo’s console will be getting a piece of the action). A next-gen version will be available for the PlayStation 4 by the time that console hits shelves later this year. Ubisoft also mentions that the game is planned for “other next generation consoles,” whatever that could be referring to.

Ubisoft also mentions a slew of pre-order bonuses and special editions, because it just wouldn’t be a AAA release if you weren’t getting a different combination of content from every retailer. The Uplay Exclusive Edition, available (you guessed it) exclusively from Ubisoft’s Uplay service, includes three bonus missions that should be worth about an hour of additional playtime. Then there are three physical special editions: the straightforward Special Edition includes one of the bonus missions, the Vigilante Edition comes with recreations of Aiden’s distinctive cap and mask, and the Dedsec Edition has just about everything they could fit on a store shelf. That’s a 23cm figurine of Aiden Pearce, an artbook, the soundtrack, a map of Chicago, four collectible cards, three badges, and the three bonus missions. No stylish cap and mask, though.

I have to admit, I’m a little disappointed that the release date wasn’t leaked by a third party – if there was ever an appropriate game for some hacker to break in and steal that information, it’s the game that probably has that same task as an in-game objective. Not that I’m complaining – knowledge is power, after all, and know that we know this new information we have the power to, uh … spend the next six months figuring out which edition to purchase.