Tom Clancy's The Division and Star Wars Outlaws studio Massive Entertainment just got, er, massiver. Parent company Ubisoft have announced that they're now "the global label" for several other series, including Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell alongside at least one original game, World War fantasy MOBA March of Giants.
It's a continuation of Ubisoft's reorganisation into a set of "creative houses" in the wake of a massive humongous funding injection from Tencent in March 2025. Specifically, Tencent pumped dosh into the founding of a "creative house" dedicated to Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six, identified by Ubisoft as their most valuable brands.
As is the way of megacorp mating rituals, the restructuring has led to mass layoffs, closures, and cancellations, with workers in "creative houses" outside the Tencent-backed subsidiary naturally more at risk. Earlier this year, Ubisoft staff went on strike in protest against the livelihood-gutting and some associated RTO policy changes.
As of today, Massive Entertainment are taking charge of the subsidiary previously known as "creative house 2", with former Amazon and 2K dude Christoph Hartmann (hired by Ubisoft earlier this year) serving as general manager. It's not currently clear what the ramifications will be for any developers working in affected teams, but Ubisoft have, at least, not announced any more workforce maceration in connection with the move.
"Starting today, development teams responsible for these franchises in Montréal, Paris, Sweden, and Toronto will operate under the Massive Entertainment brand, bringing together their creative and technology expertise to shape its future, grow these franchises and craft challenging experiences for dedicated player communities," reads a press release.
As regards individual projects swept up in all this: Ubisoft Toronto have long been working on a remake for the first Splinter Cell. Ubisoft recently trimmed the Toronto team by 40 people, but promise the remake hasn't been cancelled. Last July, Ubisoft also confirmed that a new Ghost Recon is on the way.
As for March of the Giants, it's a 4v4 affair in which each player is a giant, leading thousands of creeps (as in, computer-controlled NPCs – this is MOBA terminology, not a judgement of their character) into battle. I quite like the dieselpunk setting, but the mechanics don't particularly wow me at a glance. Still, the proof will be in the pudding: March of Giants has a Steam page and they're accepting playtest applicants.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-division-developers-massive-are-now-the-global-brand-in-charge-of-splinter-cell-and-ghost-recon-alongside-a-new-ubisoft-dieselpunk-moba
