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Ubisoft Expects The Division At The End Of 2014, The Crew In Early 2014
One of Ubisoft's biggest surprises at E3 this year was Tom Clancy's The Division. Our readers are clamoring for more information about.
During the first quarter sales call today, Ubisoft disclosed that it expect The Division to arrive during calendar year 2014, but not until the end. This puts the title in the company's 2014-15 fiscal year.
The open-world, online racer The Crew should arrive at the end of Ubisoft's current fiscal year during early 2014. Additionally, the publisher told investors today to expect open world titles on a regular basis, citing the processes it has in place to leverage multiple studios in creating titles.
Our Take
The timing of The Division shouldn't be surprising, and frankly, it wouldn't shock me to see it bumped to 2015. When I spoke with members of Ubisoft Massive, a few major elements were yet to be worked out. As you might recall, the game takes place after a pandemic, and players will have to enter hot zones.
When I asked about whether players could get sick, I was told, "we don't know." Perhaps it was just the phrasing of the answer (as opposed to "we're working that out" or "we're still playing around with how that might work"), but I wasn't given a lot of confidence that the title was going to be ready in the next year to eighteen months.
Additionally, as free-to-play stakes a bigger claim on consoles, I thought it prudent to ask about the economics. The team at Massive isn't sure if they'll be using a traditional MMO subscription model, something like Defiance's retail release with cosmetic add-ons, or straight free-to-play. Given that each must be handled different with regard to mechanics, I found it surprising that it wasn't even under consideration yet.
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