The Division: This is Why it Was in Development for So Long
By Riley Little 26 January 2016
During a recent trip to New York City, we sat down with the associate creative director for The Division to talk about why the game was in development for so long.
As one of the biggest games launching this year, many gamers have begun turning their attention to The Division and its massive in-game world. With an MMO-inspired base that finds itself riddled with team-focussed shenanigans and PVP-centric warfare, there’s little question that it’s one of the more ambitious projects arriving in 2016. But as many will note, it took a while for it to finally get here.
During a recent press visit to New York City, I sat down with Ubisoft’s Julian Gerighty, the associate creative director for The Division, to talk about the reasoning for the delays the game has faced. According to the Gerighty, the game faced numerous push backs in order to execute properly on its immense premise. This obviously took more time than originally thought, but the developer expressed that he firmly believes it was the right call.
GR: Can you tell me a bit about the development process for The Division and why it was announced several years ago and has faced several delays since?
“I think, when you look at it just on paper, what we were trying to achieve: huge open worlds; super realistic recreation of New York; new engine; 100% online all the time; co-operative play; seamless PVP; enabled Dark Zone. All of these things, these are all massive risks for our project. It’s a great creative idea, and if you pull it off it’s amazing, but it’s a huge amount of risk that you pile up. So I just think that the time that it took is the time it needed to take to do it right. And, you know, Massive is fortunate [enough] to work with Ubisoft, that I’ve been with for 15 years, and they really believe in quality and pushing this kind of content. So, having this time to do things right is an issue because it costs money, but it’s a worthwhile investment.”
The recent closed beta for The Division has many encouraged that the game will execute on its lofty ambitions, but there are still several elements of the final product that remain to be seen in action. That said, the title appears to be doing quite well thus far, and many fans will be following closely to see if the numerous delays have ended up being worth it.
Are you looking forward to Tom Clancy’s The Division? Do you think the delays will end up being worth it? Get at us in the comments.
The Division is set to arrive for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 8, 2016.
