Rome wasn't built in a day, and it may take longer than a year to reduce New York to a twitching, highly contagious ruin. Speaking to Gamereactor, the same anonymous Ubisoft Massive developer who predicted that the game would miss its 2014 release slot has suggested that a summer 2015 release may be too much to hope for, too.
"The Division is without a doubt one of the most ambitious game projects of all time and our publisher has naturally realised this," he or she told the site. "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.
"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."
Much time and effort has been expended on the aforesaid Snowdrop engine, which is designed to allow artists and designers to meddle with the game's world without asking programmers to pitch in. Ubisoft Massive also has "a couple of [other] things cooking" that won't be unveiled for a while.
According to Gamereactor's source, The Division's animation systems are proving a challenge - crouching behind a car apparently involves over 1000 minor movements. The developer has repeatedly assured fans that it won't release the game before it's ready - hence the delay, which came about after a heated tussle with Ubisoft management.
"It felt like being punched in the face to be perfectly honest," the source said of the original 2014 release announcement. "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."
http://www.totalxbox.com/76745/the-divi ... ms-source/