10 Genius Fourth Wall Breaks In 2016 Video Games

When your development company is victim to numerous video game leaks, but you employ over 9,000 employees and own over 30 studios worldwide, how do you address the problem?

You could try suing, but that's expensive. Maybe rush the game out before the leaks can get out, a la the now infamously buggy release of Assassin's Creed: Unity.

Or you can just accept it is part and parcel of being a hugely successful, multinational video game developer and publisher and the best you can do is embrace and poke fun.

That's exactly what Ubisoft have done with this year's follow up to 2014's Watch Dogs. In Watch Dogs 2, the player takes on the role of wrongly accused, free-running hacker, Marcus Holloway, as he teams up with Anonymous-inspired DeadSec to take on the big corporation controlling his city.

Marcus epitomises the tonal shift from its predecessor, often derided for taking itself too seriously. In contrast, Marcus' wit and charm pave the way for a game far more willing to poke fun at itself and its industry.

One meta-mission, 'Ubistolen', sees the protagonist break into Ubisoft's headquarters, during which he intercepts messages between game developers. The conversation covers everything from previous titles that have been leaked (including Unity and Syndicate), and measures they should put in place to prevent future leaks happening again.

Marcus goes on to hack a trailer for an upcoming game, before the team mock how the public will receive it when they leak it.