• by Larissa Faw , May 29, 2014

Ubisoft and Cutwater San Francisco are launching new creative to support the game maker’s Watch Dogs PS4 videogame, which has been forecast to be one of 2014's best-selling titles.

The game follows a hacker and his efforts to seek revenge after the accidental death of his niece within a fictionalized version of Chicago. It was released on May 27 for Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, with a Wii U version planned for release in the fourth quarter.

The ad campaign mirrors the actual game by being set in the Watch Dogs Chicago cityscape. But the storyline and footage is 100% original. To this end, the trailer follows Watch Dogs protagonist Aiden Pearce as he hacks Chicago's centralized technology system to use as a weapon against his enemies. 

"We wanted to show the main character, Aiden Pearce, as a cool and calm badass that can throw down when he needs to," says Chuck McBride, Chief Creative Officer, Cutwater SF. "In Watch Dogs, 'hacking is your weapon,' so our spot intentionally shows three instances in which Aiden hacks the world around him — he’s able to switch a stoplight, lift a bridge, and stop a train all with the press of a button."

The trailer was written, storyboarded, green-screened and directed by McBride’s creative team at Cutwater, working with Digic Pictures in Hungary to “motion capture” Noam Jenkins, the star of the game. 

The :45 and :30 TV ads are currently airing on cable channels in the U.S. and Canada. In addition to the spot, Cutwater partnered with Ubisoft to develop messaging and brand positioning for Watch Dogs’ rollout. 

Cutwater has worked with Ubisoft since 2008, having developed creative for multiple games, including Assassin’s Creed, Shaun White Snowboarding, Shaun White Skateboarding and Rocksmith.