Ubisoft's server issues won't stop the Watch Dogs 2 giveaway

Update: Anyone with an Ubi account can now sign up for a free copy over here.

Ubisoft's offer of Watch Dogs 2 for free if you watched today's Ubisoft Forward stream today was meant to be a tempting little sweetener, but things broke. The servers seemingly overloaded, meaning that not only were many unable to sign into their Ubi accounts and become eligible for the giveaway, some people are complaining all the failed attempts got their accounts automatically disabled. Welp. Sounds like it'll take some fixing, but Ubisoft have at least said people who couldn't log in will get the freebie.

"We're aware of an issue currently affecting logging in to Ubisoft Accounts and are working towards resolving this," Ubisoft Support said as the stream kicked off. "We apologise for any inconvenience caused and appreciate your patience."

A short while later, they came back saying "Don't worry! We'll be giving out the rewards to all of you, even if you were unable to log in successfully." Not knowing how exactly they're tracking eligibility, I couldn't tell you how effective or generous it'll be. The nicest outcome would be everyone with a Ubi account getting to claim a copy. Freebies were due to go out on Monday so we should see soon.

If your account got locked down during Ubisoft's serverhell, you'll probably be wanting to get in touch with support to fix that. Sympathies.

If you do get a go, Watch Dogs 2 is pretty neat. After the ha-ha-hilariously daft grim tone of the first game, Watch Dogs 2 has more of a fun Hackers vibe - so it is weird that it nudges you to murder the hell out of people. See our Watch Dogs 2 review for more on that.

In all this Dogging, Ubisoft announced the Watch Dogs Legion release date, October 29th. They lifted a preview embargo too, so you can read Alice Bee's written preview (pretty fun but woefully inauthentic swearing, she says) and watch Matthew's video:

In recent weeks, numerous Ubisoft staff and studios have been accused of sexual harrassment, abuse, and discrimination by colleagues and members of the public. The company have vowed to investigate reports and to fix their culture. Another three executives resigned today in the wake of the allegations.

Whatever you call it, hit our E3 2020 tag for more from this summer's blast of gaming announcements, trailers, and miscellaneous marketing. Check out the PC games at the PlayStation 5 show, everything at the PC Gaming Show, and all the trailers from the Xbox showcase, for starters.