All AAA releases have to deal with the burden of heavy expectations, but that is truer for service-style shared world games than it is for most others- and so far, those expectations have caused games in the genre to stumble quite a bit. The Division 2, however, is looking to break the curse, by building on the improvements its predecessor made upon its own rough launch, while also adding on new elements and mechanics that developers Ubisoft Massive have envisioned.
It is a game that attempts to cater to many- with a 40 hour-long campaign it’s a game that can be enjoyed solo; with an extensive focus on its endgame, it’s also a game that is looking to appeal to those who enjoy the endless lootgrind of similar titles; with its PvP modes, it is appealing to those who enjoy competitive multiplayer; while simply by virtue of being a shared world title, it’s an attractive options for co-op enthusiasts as well.
Recently, while speaking with EDGE in their April 2019 issue (Issue 330), Ubisoft Massive’s managing director David Polfeldt spoke about the challenges of creating such a game, and how the studio attempts to tackle such a herculean task.
“If you look at the learnings we made from The Division, we know that people play the game in quite different ways.” he said. ” And people fall in love with different aspects of the game. The Division is expected to cater to quite a lot of tastes, which is never an easy thing. How do you create a game that caters to all that? The answer is that you have to create a monster game.”
“I think this is a challenge for some other games that are in the same genre,” he continued. “You’re expected to deliver on a lot of different tastes and preferences. It’s really fun to do, but it’s not easy. And yet you also have to remember that Massive is a studio that is 20 years old, and we don’t want the easiest challenge. We want to win the Champions League. And yes, that’s really difficult, but that’s why it’s exciting to us.”
The Division 2 has certainly been looking promising so far. An open beta for the game begins tomorrow, and will remain live until March 4, so if you’re on the fence about it, now would be the time to go hands-on with the game.
Recently, Ubisoft released a trailer teasing the game’s first eight player raid, while another trailer delved deep into all the Year 1 post-launch content they have planned for it.