News about The Division. There is an interview with the Managing Director of Massive. He admits that they underestimated The Division but learned a lot.
Gamesindustry talked to David Polfeldt. He is the “Managing Director” of Massive Entertainment, the Swedish developer behind the MMO shooter “The Division (PC, PS4, XBox One).”
Polfeldt discusses the challenges of managing a “live game” like The Division. It’s like developing a game while people are watching. That can be tough, and such a game has extremely high demands. Polfeldt has great respect for any studio that handles this pressure.
Learned a lot from The Division
Massive has learned a lot from The Division. There are some design decisions they should have made earlier.
Polfeldt says: “I think we underestimated the size and success of The Division. It put us in a position where we had to catch up to the game. For future projects, we will pay much better attention to that.”
Multiple projects in development – Avatar Project
In the interview, it becomes clear: Massive is still developing The Division, but is also working on other games, such as a title based on the upcoming film series Avatar. Polfeldt believes it’s an advantage for the studio to have multiple titles in development. Then they can place team members in the ideal position.
If there is only one game, everyone has to work on that – this way, everyone in the studio can find a position that fits them perfectly.
Currently, 400 people work at Massive, but the company is still hiring: the studio in Malmö is looking for 100 or 200 additional employees. The biggest challenge right now is the transition from a studio that develops a project to a studio that manages a live game and does other things.
Work/Life Balance extremely important for Swedish studio
Important for Massive is:
- that employees feel comfortable in the company, ideally staying for 10 years or longer
- a balanced work/life balance – as is common in Scandinavia. There’s no point in working towards the next ultra-urgent deadline because there is always one. Those who work like that burn out. In the past, one could take three to six months off after a release, but today the pressure is consistently high.
- to also hear the opinions of new employees. At Massive, only what you contribute to a project counts, not how long you have been in the company.
Mein MMO says: One should keep in mind: This is a “general interview about the state of the company from the perspective of the Managing Director.” In the ears of The Division players who are eagerly awaiting news about their game and are suffering under content drought, statements like “We are currently making the transition to managing multiple projects simultaneously” could understandably cause frustration.
More about Massive and The Division, for example, what jobs they are specifically looking for, can be found here:
The Division 2 or an expansion? – What are they working on in Malmö?
