An alleged insider to Ubisoft Massive’s development of Tom Clancy’s The Division is not convinced it will make the current autumn 2015 release window, as they ”don’t have a functioning game” at this stage.
In fact they’re having ”massive problems” with the multiplayer side of things. The original 2014 date announced by Ubisoft was a ‘punch in the face’ to the studio, they said.
Brutal honesty continued by the insider remarking the Massive team ”don’t want to do a Battlefield 4” by releasing ”an unfinished game.” Massive asked for more time.
”The Division is without a doubt one of the most ambitious game projects of all time and our publisher has naturally realised this. We’ve been given increased resources, we’re hiring lots at the moment and are given a lot of help from other Ubisoft teams which is going to be needed if we are to deliver a finished game by next fall,” the source told Gamereactor.
”Sadly I still think that the date is a tad bit optimistic as we still don’t have a functioning game and still have massive problems making our multiplayer component work at the concept stage. At the same time both we and our publisher are incredibly happy with our game engine and Ubisoft will naturally make use of it in lots of upcoming titles.”
The announcement of a delay to The Division into late 2015 came last week during Ubisoft’s earnings call. Ubisoft Reflections and Red Storm Entertainment are also working on The Division alongside Massive.
The studio insider also dismissed rumours that Massive were switching to Xbox One as lead platform: ”That’s not correct. PlayStation 4 is the more powerful hardware and we feel it is easier to develop for. Snowdrop works better on PS4 and even if Microsoft do want us to shift lead platform that’s not something that has happened.”
Developers at Massive were also rather irritated by Ubisoft’s announcement of a 2014 release for The Division during their E3 2013 debut of the ambitious next-gen title, which at the time had been announced for PC.
”It felt like being punched in the face to be perfectly honest,” they said. ”At the end of the day we don’t want to do a Battlefield 4 and release an unfinished game. There’s too much potential in the concept that is The Division at the moment, that we’ve asked for more time and resources in order to fully realise this fantastic vision.”
Tom Clancy’s The Division releases on PC, Xbox One and PS4 in late 2015, or maybe not.
