GTA and Watch Dogs are different games. Sometimes their gameplay intersects in some points like their open-world environment, character-driven storylines, and mission-based structures.
The theme of watchdogs is based on Chicago (United States) and that of GTA is based on Los Angeles (United States)
Key Takeaways
- GTA games offer open-world environments focusing on criminal activities, whereas Watch Dogs revolves around hacking and technology-based gameplay.
- The GTA series has a long history and more game titles, while Watch Dogs has fewer instalments.
- Watch Dogs games feature futuristic settings, while GTA titles are grounded in present-day or historic urban environments.
GTA vs Watch Dogs
Watch Dogs is an action-adventure game that focus on hacking and surveillance, with an immersive aspect in the narrative and the atmospheric feel. GTA (Grand Theft Auto), that is also an action-adventure game, enables players to complete missions and has a immersive open-world environment.
In GTA, each player is allowed to perform a role of a thug or a bad guy of the city. The person playing Gta 5 has to rise through the ranks of organized crime by completing the tasks or missions of the game.
These tasks or missions consist of many crimes including assassinations, robbery, and even murder. Watch Dogs, focuses on a game mechanic of a virtual world so that the player can approach its objectives freely.
The player has to complete various missions and perform various side activities to maintain the story of the game. It consists of shooting, driving a car, and also hacking.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | GTA | Watch Dogs |
|---|---|---|
| Theme | The theme of GTA is based on Los Angeles (City in the United States) | The theme of Watch Dogs is based on Chicago (City in the United States) |
| Gameplay | It can be played asTPP or third person and FPP or first-person perspective. | It can only be played from a third-person perspective. |
| Number of Games | GTA has launched 19 games of its series from the year 1977-to 2021. | Watch Dogs has launched 5 games of its series from the year 2014-21. |
| Protagonist | All the games of GTA have different protagonists. | The main protagonist of watchdogs is hacker Aiden Pearce. |
| World | GTA is based in the real-life virtual world. | Watchdogs are based on the futuristic tech world. |
What is GTA?
The full form of GTA is Grand Theft Auto. It is a series of adventure games created by David Jones.
Its later titles were developed by Digital Eclipse, Rockstar North, Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar Canada, under the supervision of Sam House, Dan House, Aaron Garbut, and Leslie Benzies.
GTA 5 was developed by Rockstar North and the publisher of GTA is Rockstar Games.
The term “grand theft auto” which references the name of the GTA series is used in the UNITED STATES for the crime of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle.
GTA was first released on 28 November 1997 and the latest version of GTA is Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy- The Definitive Edition which was released in 2021.
The gameplay of GTA is based on the life of a criminal who has to perform missions that involve firefighting, street racing, bus driving and also flying a helicopter, and riding a military tank.
The platforms in which GTA is available are PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Windows Phone, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Xbox series X/S. Total sales of GTA series are approx.
235 million and bestselling game of series was GTA V with 130 million sales.
What is Watch Dogs?
Watch Dogs is a series of action-adventure games which is a part of a video game franchise that was created and developed by Montreal and Toronto studios and was published by famous French Based video game company Ubisoft in the year 2014.
The platforms in which Watch Dogs is available are Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5. The latest release of the WatchDog game series is Watch Dogs: Legion, which was released on 29 October 2020.
Some comic books have also been published related to this series. The gameplay of watchdogs is similar to that of GTA where the player has to complete missions to progress but there are other side activities too with puzzle games and role-playing.
The WatchDog games are designed in futuristic or fictionalized versions of real-life cities, and also follow the protagonist which is a hacker who has different goals to achieve and is involved in criminal activities of the underworld of the particular cities.
In this game, ctOS (central Operating System) is present which is a fictional computing network that can connect every electronic device of the city and has stored personal information of many citizens. It has sold over 10 million copies in 2014.
Main Differences Between GTA and Watch Dogs
- GTA was released in 1997 and that’s why it is popular in both old and new generations of gamers while Watch Dogs was released in 2014 and is only popular among today’s generation gamers.
- GTA is a crime-based show in which robbery, driving, and shooting are done while in Watch Dogs fake hacking is also present including these crimes which makes the game more interesting.
- All the themes of GTA games are based on normal real-world cities while the themes of the Watch Dogs game series are based on fictional and futuristic tech cities.
- The games of GTA can be played in three different universes which are 2D,3D, and HD while the games of the Watch Dogs series can only be played in the HD universe.
- The protagonists of GTA are bank robbers, criminals, and gangsters while the protagonists of Watch Dogs are criminal hackers.
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
