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Update 2:

There is some very positive news regarding this rumour, as Kotaku has consulted its sources in Italy and the US — the latter was also showing cancellations in its GameStop stores — and stated that the disappearance of pre-order options was a "glitch". Pre-orders should be available now or soon in those regions while, as stated in the original posts below, various other retailers have continued as normal.

Quite why Ubisoft has declined to comment on many fronts or — as quoted below — given vague statements remains unclear. Hopefully it all means nothing, or simply a change in the sets being offered at retail. All will hopefully be revealed, if even required, in time.

Update:

The GameStop Italy website has now re-posted all three variations of Watch_Dogs on Wii U, showing them as available to pre-order but also with a placeholder release date of 28th February. Thanks to all of those that sent this in.

Original Article:

With persistent trends of receding third-party support for the Wii U, limited offerings from Ubisoft have provided a degree of comfort. The biggest of these titles on the horizon is Watch_Dogs, the company's ambitious new IP that aims to provide a sandbox, always-online experience with themes of hacking and surveillance.

Troubling rumours have emerged today, however, that the title's Wii U iteration may be cancelled. The core of the story is in reports from Wiitalia that multiple GameStop stores in Italy are cancelling or refusing pre-orders for the title, with statements that it's no longer on the retailer's database. Perhaps of more concern is that Ubisoft hasn't sought to quickly quash the rumour, as it's now provided an official line through CVG that's as lacking in reassurance as seems possible.

We have nothing to comment at the moment.

Losing Watch_Dogs, one of the last major multi-platform titles still coming to the Wii U, would certainly be a major disappointment to Nintendo and its fans. We also asked Ubisoft for comment earlier today, yet it seems unlikely that much more will be said at this stage; the game is still available to pre-order from multiple retailers. Let us know what you think of this in the comments below.

[source computerandvideogames.com, via wiitalia.it]