Watch Dogs and 5 other Ubisoft franchises on the scrap heap as of 2026

In case you missed last week’s news, Ubisoft has undertaken a massive reshuffling that has resulted in delays and cancellations for up to 13 titles – not to mention job losses and studio closures.

One of the gaming industry’s major third-party publishers has cancelled the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake and other projects, but reports have since suggested that Watch Dogs (which began in 2014 but hasn’t been seen since 2020’s Legion) is likely to be completely finished – despite a movie still slated for release.

Here are some other big Ubisoft series that haven’t been seen in years, and are seemingly now lost to (the Sands of) time.

The Escapist recaps

• Ubisoft has closed studios and cancelled projects.
• The publisher intends to move forward with core franchises and live-service titles.
• The new ‘Creative Houses’ structure will split Ubisoft into five sections.

Tom Clancy titles

Oh boy, what a mess. We’re still waiting for the long-awaited Splinter Cell Remake (if this wave of cancellations hasn’t hit that too), and Ubisoft has been talking up The Division in recent weeks (although its head honcho just jumped to Battlefield, thanks Eurogamer).

Still, Ghost Recon hasn’t been seen since 2019’s Breakpoint. It’s a game that saw a wave of negativity but went on to become a fun third-person shooter. Will the series ever return? We’ll see, but given Ubisoft has nestled it under CH2 in its new creative structure, maybe one day.

Rainbow Six Siege keeps going relatively strong, and yet, there’s no single-player Rainbow Six game since Vegas 2 in 2008. Given how good the Vegas games were, Oh, and I will defend Rainbow Six Extraction here; that game was a blast.

XDefiant

Look, yes, it’s a Tom Clancy game, but is it really? XDefiant was the Super Smash Bros. of jingoistic novelizations, grabbing everyone from Splinter Cell to Rainbow Six and putting them in a functional, if not wholly original, first-person shooter.

It was dubbed a ‘CoD killer’, but was shut down in June 2025, just over a year after its release. It remains a metaphorical black eye for Ubisoft’s live service aspirations, but hey, at least we still have Skull and Bones, right?

Call of Juarez

Remember Call of Juarez? No, me neither, but it was popular enough for Ubisoft to release four entries, although the publishing rights to 2013’s Gunslinger and 2011’s The Cartel have since reverted back to Techland.

It’s quite funny that Ubisoft would release two games about cowboys right before Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption showed what was possible, though.

Red Steel

While everyone and their Grandma’s were picking up the Wii for Wii Sports, edgy teens were reaching for Red Steel instead.

And for good reason – Ubisoft’s Wii launch title sold well, offering the option to use firearms and a sword with motion controls. The sequel amped everything up without breaking the mold, but that was in 2010, and we’ve had nothing since.

Given that motion-focused gaming has gone the way of the Dodo, though, it’s perhaps not all too surprising.

Driver

This one is a shocker: Not because Ubisoft hasn’t brought back undercover cop John Tanner since 2014, but because holy moly, there are eight games in this series (although not all published by Ubisoft).

If you played the first game in 1999, you’ll know how obnoxious the tutorial was, but the idea of a strictly wheel-based crim sim is one we’ve not really had a great deal of recently. The name still has some value, and there’s nostalgia there, too.

Go on, Ubi, give Tanner a call.

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References

1. The Division 3 creative director has suddenly left to join Battlefield Studios (EuroGamer)