Set within a fictionalized version of the Chicagoland area in 2013, the first installment in the series follows gray hat hacker and vigilante Aiden Pearce's quest for revenge after the killing of his niece. The game's development began in 2009, with a budget of $68 million. "Watch Dogs" was derived from a potential sequel from the "Driver" series which had been in development at Ubisoft Montreal coincident to "" at Ubisoft Reflections and was released in 2011. "Driver: San Francisco" did not have a strong commercial performance, leading to the "Driver" game at Montreal being reworked into one that focused on hacking but still incorporated driving elements. Ubisoft Montreal was "Watch Dogs" lead developer, with additional support provided by Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Quebec, and Ubisoft Bucharest. The game was heavily anticipated following its gameplay reveal at E3 2012, though the final game, which was accused of graphical downgrading, triggered controversy. The game was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in May 2014, and a Wii U version was released in November 2014. The game received generally positive reviews despite criticism aimed at certain technical issues, the discrepancy in graphical quality between marketing and the real game, narrative, and protagonist. It sold more than 10 million copies by the end of 2014.