Last week, Ubisoft officially announced The Division 2. The follow-up to 2016's open-world shooter The Division, The Division 2 is being developed by several Ubisoft studios including Massive Entertainment (the lead developer on the game), as well as Ubisoft Annecy, Redstorm, Reflections, Ubisoft Bucharest, and Ubisoft Shanghai. Ubisoft Sofia is also providing support on the project, according to some publications.

While it's not uncommon for Ubisoft games to include the work of several studios across the company (Ubisoft even hosts an annual conference allowing the different dev teams to share ideas), The Division 2 could set a new record for the company. According to a new report from Gamereactor, The Division 2 will have the biggest Ubisoft development team yet. The publication cites sources close to the game who claim that The Division 2 will be worked on by a development team of over 1,000 people. When asked to comment, a Ubisoft PR representative said that this is "a rumour that they choose not to comment on."

On the one hand, the news that The Division 2 will be a huge development project for Ubisoft comes as little surprise. The game will be a fully fledged sequel instead of feeling like some substantial expansion DLC. Massive Entertainment has stated that it chose to go the sequel route in order to fully explore ideas that it has been considering before the first game had even been released. It makes sense that a record-setting development team is needed in order to make that happen.

Moreover, The Division 2 will also feature updates to the Snowdrop Engine that powered the first game. In order for Massive and co. to develop the gameplay content itself and improve the engine as well, again, it makes sense that a development team of epic proportions is needed to create the game in good time.

But on the other hand, some fans may fear that if The Division 2's development team is huge then the development costs of the game will have ballooned too and that means that Ubisoft could be especially aggressive about recouping its investment. The Division did add microtransactions in a post-launch update (despite promises from Ubisoft the game wouldn't include microtransactions) and players were not impressed by the cosmetics that were on offer. Some players are concerned that The Division 2 will be even more microtransaction-heavy and that the premium items may also feel like a waste of money. Hopefully Ubisoft will address this and more when it reveals the game at E3 2018.

The Division 2 is in development. A release date and platforms have not been announced.

Source: Gamereactor