The Division: Why Ubisoft Let Massive Make A New Tom Clancy IP

David Polfeldt shot the breeze regarding game development in an interview at the Nordic Game Conference. Did he share something about Tom Clancy’s The Division? If you’re looking for something specific to get hyped about, no. However, we did learn a little something about why Massive was given the freedom to make The Division.

Polfeldt talked about The Division in context of how much freedom Massive has since being incorporated into Ubisoft. Polfeldt explains that Ubisoft’s structure is, to a certain degree, a meritocracy. Ubisoft has tasked Massive with entries in the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry series, and their success in this regard has led to them taking on the Tom Clancy franchise. Polfeldt explains further that Ubisoft’s studios need to strike a balance between serving different shareholder interests (execs, devs, consumers), and demonstrating initiative.

Massive demonstrated this initiative by deciding to create both a new franchise under the Tom Clancy banner, and a new engine for it, Snowdrop. Subsequently, The Division is being developed in such a way that it does not have to exist in the same universe as Rainbow 6 or H.A.W.X.

Regarding building Snowdrop, Polfeldt explained it was a matter of building tech that was efficient enough for their purposes. He partly attributes it to Swedish tics (Massive is based in Sweden), but ultimately, for practical purposes, Snowdrop allowed them to work without engineers, to do their own thing. And, to Ubisoft’s credit, they’ve given them the freedom to do just that.

Tom Clancy’s The Division is coming to Windows, PS4, and Xbox One in 2015.