A mission in Watch Dogs 2 sees protagonist Marcus Holloway stealing E3 information from Ubisoft (yes, he’s stealing data from the publisher of the game he’s in, it’s very meta). The trailer he finds is labeled “Ubisoft Confidential” with a “do not distribute” watermark running along the bottom, but that doesn’t stop Marcus and the players controlling him from taking a peek inside.
And now according to sources Kotaku claims are “familiar with,” what’s going on, this is indeed a trailer for an unannounced Ubisoft game. Supposedly it’s called Pioneer, though that could be a code name rather than the final title.
Apparently the project was set for an announcement next year, but recent troubles during production have left its future uncertain. Due to development heads changing on the game, it’s now not known when the game will be officially announced or if it will make it to market at all.
When the game teaser was hidden inside Watch Dogs 2, we’re told it was supposed to act as some sort of a lead-in to the game’s big reveal, but now we may be left wondering what it was for quite some time.
Bearing some resemblance to No Man’s Sky, the majority of the alleged game teaser features bright planetary environments, machinery that appears to be floating above Mars, and a shot of a rocket plummeting to the planet’s surface. The Mars location is confirmed on a screen inside the rocket’s cockpit, which appears to be piloted by a sole astronaut. Destroyed containers and bits of debris litter the area, narrowly missing the rocket as it continues its descent.
Before we see the teaser’s conclusion or a possible title for the project, Marcus’ stream is interrupted and he’s forced to escape.
Should the teaser actually be representative of a Ubisoft project, the more realistic approach to space travel helps the game stand out from more imaginative science fiction exploration games we’ve seen in the past few years. There aren’t any photon cannons or warp drives on display here, for example.
Of course, we may have been excited for nothing if the game never arrives, but regardless, Ubisoft got us talking. Well done.
Updated on 11-16-2016 by Jon Martindale: Added Kotaku sources and “Pioneer” rumor.
