Watch Dogs dev explains how its multiplayer mode is really a “seamless online” experience

Watch Dogs developer Ubisoft Montreal doesn’t think of the game as having traditional multiplayer, but rather a “seamless online” experience.

“We don’t talk about it in terms of single-player and multiplayer,” Lead Gameplay Designer Danny Belanger said in a post on Ubisoft’s blog. “It’s all online. It’s seamless. You continue your game. That aspect, for me, is crucial because otherwise it’s a break in the experience.”

As you’ve probably seen in the recently released 9-minute video, you can play Watch Dogs online with other players in a variety of modes, but you don’t just choose these from a menu as you do in so many other games.

Other players can invade your game at any time as long as you’re not doing anything that could be disrupted (a story mission, for example), and Watch Dogs will also try to learn how much of an online experience you’re looking for.

“We have a shield,” Belanger said. “So if someone comes into your game and hacks you, you’re protected. It can’t happen. The less you partake in the multiplayer, the longer the shield. If you’re not hacking people and you’re not into that gameplay, the game will recognize and acknowledge that you’re not into that. That’s fine.” If you want, you can also toggle off the online multiplayer options completely in the game’s menu.

Another cool way in which Watch Dogs keeps this online experience seamless is that you never play as anyone but the main character, Aiden Pearce. Even online, you’ll always see yourself as Pearce, but to every other player you’ll look like a “fixer,” whose appearance is chosen from a pool of NPCs.

Watch Dogs launches May 27 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC. The Wii U version, which is definitely not canceled, is coming sometime later. You can read more about Watch Dogs in GameSpot editor Shaun McInnis' recently published preview.