Ubisoft has confirmed a sequel to Watch Dogs will launch before the end of its next financial year, which is April 2017. The announcement was made as part of its third-quarter financial report, in which the Paris-headquartered company detailed its outlook for the current fiscal year and beyond.

On the subject of its fiscal 16/17 games slate, the corporation said: "Ubisoft will launch a very high-quality line-up, including For Honor, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, [and] the next instalment of Watch Dogs."

It will also launch "a new high-potential AAA brand with strong digital live services," though this project was not further explained.

In April 2015, a senior gameplay programmer at Ubisoft indicated work on Watch Dogs 2 was underway. The developer, who worked on the original Watch Dogs and its expansion, listed Watch Dogs 2 on a CV.

The first Watch Dogs sold more than 9 million copies into retail, and its creative director has been vocal about what he would like to do with the franchise next.

In other developments, Ubisoft has officially confirmed earlier reports that there will not be a new Assassin's Creed game this year.

"This year, we are stepping back and re-examining the Assassin's Creed franchise. As a result, we've decided that there will not be a new Assassin’s Creed game in 2016," the studio said in a statement explaining the decision."

The last game in the mainline Assassin's Creed series was Syndicate, which launched in October 2015 and received a 9/10 in GameSpot's review.