A new rumor has surfaced that claims The Division developer Massive Entertainment is working on a new game in the battle royale genre. No details are known about this alleged game, but apparently, the project has a short turnaround time.

This rumor comes courtesy of Game Reactor, who claims that Ubisoft approached the Sweden-based Massive earlier this year with a task to look into battle royale games. After doing some research, Massive allegedly reported back that it could deliver something relatively quick, perhaps for release later this year.

Battle royale games are easily the hottest in the industry right now, with Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds burning up social media and streaming platforms at record pace. But every battle royale game has a slightly different approach, but many find success albeit of varying degrees.

For Massive Entertainment, there is already a strong foundation for battle royale with The Division, from strong shooting mechanics to an impressive and dynamic game engine. The game’s survival mode, which sees players try to survive the cold, a viral infection, and enemies, has plenty in common with a battle royale mode, from the looting aspect to the PvP element. More importantly, The Division already has a large map that could easily be translated over to a battle royale setting.

Of course, that is assuming Massive wants to take The Division’s foundation and apply it to the battle royale genre. There are certainly things about The Division that could easily fit in battle royale, like the map, the looting/crafting, and the graphics engine; and others that would not, like the skills/perks system.

But speculation means nothing if the rumor turns out to be false, which is very possible. No real confidence is given surrounding the report and everything is very second hand. Massive is plenty busy with other projects as well, including the recently announced The Division 2.

Still, it’s hard not to imagine any publisher with as many studios as Ubisoft would not at least be exploring the option of a battle royale game. If the company can dedicate a full studio to turning the pirate ship battles from Assassin’s Creed Black Flag into a full game, then anything is possible.

Source: Game Reactor