Ubisoft developers behind games such as Fortnite becoming more and more popular. While there have been similar games in the past - particularly early access titles like H1Z1 - it's only now that the subgenre is starting to really take off and influence the gaming industry as a whole.
After all, Red Dead Redemption 2 battle royale mode, with Activision also looking into implementing the mode in one of their future games - and they aren't the only ones.
Gamereactor reports that The Division developer Massive Entertainment is also working on a standalone battle royale game. The outlet says that Ubisoft commissioned the studio to start looking into the popular game type this past January and Massive has since reportedly come back with an idea that they feel strongly about, and one they can develop in a relatively short amount of time.
While this news seems to focus on Massive developing a standalone battle royale title, it's also possible that the studio is actually working to implement the mode into The Division 2. As gamers may recall, Massive polled The Division players in January and asked about which mode they would like to see included in the game's Survival mode - a mode that was added as part of the Survival expansion pack in December 2016. One question asked if players would be interested in seeing a Last Man Standing mode, such as battle royale, thus indicating that Massive/Ubisoft are at least aware of consumer interest in the game type.
If Gamereactor's report is to be believed, then it seems Ubisoft tasked Massive with creating a battle royale mode/game shortly after the survey completed. But since they asked specifically about adding it to The Division, and since The Division 2 was announced only last month, perhaps they are adding battle royale to the sequel. After all, in their Division 2 announcement, they said that they are taking everything they "learned over the past two years" and applying it to the sequel.
Of course, it's also possible that they could be spinning off the Survival mode with battle royale attached into its own game, similar to what Ubisoft is doing with Skull & Bones - a game inspired by the success of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. One thing's for sure, though, as long as Massive Entertainment uses an updated version of their Snowdrop engine for a battle royale mode or game, and the physics are at least on par with The Division, then whatever they create will not only be a global hit for them but also for Ubisoft.
Source: Gamereactor
