Is Massive really planning a The Division 2 or a big expansion? Why isn’t the shooter being developed further?
It’s quite puzzling. Massive has launched a million-dollar franchise for Ubisoft, created an MMO shooter in the wake of Destiny that has broken a ton of records and made a ridiculous amount of money. Then they developed the project for over a year with DLCs, kept it somewhat on track with updates and patches, and now we hear nothing from Malmö.
The fans had already grabbed their pitchforks and lit the torches when they learned about the Year 2 plans for The Division or rather when they learned nothing about them, as there were obviously no plans for a Year 2 in The Division.
The torches are now extinguished. Anger and frustration have been replaced by a certain wonder: How things are really going to proceed with “The Division” is not known to anyone outside of Ubisoft and Massive.
But it can’t seriously be that the studio is actually giving up “The Division” as a franchise after such a successful start to work on an “Avatar Project,” can it?
Massive Malmö is looking for 40 new employees
Massive has definitely not given up the “The Division” franchise. The location “Malmö” is more important than ever. After all, “The Avatar Project” is supposed to be developed here along with “The Division,” the next million-dollar franchise from Ubisoft.
There’s no news about large-scale layoffs. You usually hear about those when online games are being shut down. Only after the project’s release have some key figures publicly departed.
The horror scenario of “The Division” fans: Ubisoft has pulled the entire “The Division” team to work on the “Avatar Project.” But that seems far-fetched. Ubisoft has invested too much in “The Division,” and the franchise is too successful for that.
Moreover, some jobs are specifically advertised for “The Division.”
Currently, there are only two scenarios for the future of “The Division” that seem sensible: In both, The Division follows its “model” in terms of business model, Destiny.
We think Massive in Malmö is currently working on The Division:
either on a big expansion like “The Taken King,” but they’re not ready to reveal it yet
or they skip the step altogether and really go all out with “The Division 2”
Obviously, The Division is not planning any “small DLC” for €15 like in year 1 next. Because those would have been announced by now.
Massive is either planning a big expansion or a full-priced sequel. Both still seem to be a while away, otherwise, it would have been announced by now. Perhaps we will hear more at E3.
The “current” gap can be explained by the fact that Ubisoft has changed plans at short notice. Maybe “The Division 2” was indeed once planned, but now they have decided to release an expansion instead.
As evidence, a nebulous statement from the financial report in February can be cited. Ubisoft stated that they would prefer to continue developing a project rather than release a sequel for the franchise as initially planned. So far, it’s unknown which franchise from Ubisoft the statement is aimed at, but it is quite conceivable that it was referring to The Division.
An expansion would likely be well received – not The Division 2
Well, the situation for The Division isn’t good. The mood among fans remains angry and upset, as they would have expected more from the online shooter than a long pause.
If Ubisoft were to announce a “The Division 2” now, they would certainly have to face some criticism for not having done more with the first part. That wouldn’t be a good starting point for a new game. A “big expansion,” on the other hand, would have better chances.
What do you think?
The title image is from the jobs page of Massive Sweden.
To read more about the problems of The Division finding the right release model for the franchise, see here:
