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Copied from Massive Entertainment

Revision

[edit]

Updated information regarding studio staffing change, game DLC release dates, game intro, and behind-the scene stories.

Added and updated sources to better ones (7, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 31, 33, 34, 35)

Cleaned up source format

fixed grammer and overall structure.

Added alot of hyper-links

History

[edit]

Creation of Massive Entertainment and Ground Control (1997 - 2002)

[edit]

Massive Entertainment was founded in 1997 by Martin Walfisz. The studio was originally planned to be named Sparks, later Nova Storm, and finally settled on the name Massive Entertainment. [1] Their first game was a Tetris port for phones in 1998, requested by Ericsson following the success of Nokia's snake game. [1]

In June 2000, Massive Entertainment released the award-winning PC action-strategy title Ground Control, a real-time tactics video game focusing on the conflict between two factions on an alien planet, the game was published by Sierra Studios. And later in the same year , an expansion was released named Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy. Although the game itself was well-received, it didn't sell well commercially, and the company struggled to sustain itself for a couple of years[2]. Since the Ground Control didn't sell well enough for the studio to make a sequel by themselves. The studio took the idea of Ground Control 2 to multiple publishers, but none of them decided to fund the sequel [2].

Massive's former headquarters on Drottninggatan in Malmö (pictured in 2008). During its occupancy, from December 2007 to April 2020, the studio grew from 130 to more than 650 employees.[3]

Vivendi acquisition and World in Conflict (2002 - 2007)

[edit]

In 2002, the studio was acquired by Vivendi Universal Games through their NDA Productions subsidiary.[4] Vivendi Universal Games expressed their love towards Ground Control and ultimately decided to fund the sequel - Ground Control II: Operation Exodus, which was published by Vivendi Universal Games in 2004. [2] The sequel introduced more traditional RTS features in an attempt to appeal to a border audience. In an interview in 2008, Martin Walfisz, founder of the studio, expressed that he personally likes the the first game more. [5]

After the release Ground Control II: Operation Exodus, the studio spent some time to solidify their direction towards the next game, and started early prototyping of the concept in early 2005, which resulted in the game World in Conflict, described as a further development of the real-time tactics gameplay formula from the Ground Control games, but set on Earth during an alternate history late Cold War. [5] The game's single player campaign story was created with the help of Larry Bond, co-author of Red Storm Rising. [5]

The finished game was released on 18 September 2007 and won critical acclaim, including nominations for one of the best games of 2007. The game's success even granted the inclusion of the game in several ESL tournaments. [6]

Ubisoft acquisition, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, and Far Cry 3 (2007 - 2012)

[edit]

On December 2007,  Activision announced that they would merge with Vivendi games to create Activation Blizzard. [7] After the completion of the merger, on July 9th 2008, Activision announced that they will drop numerous Vivendi titles that are currently under development [8] which included World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, the expansion pack for the game World in Conflict that was originally planned to be published during 2008's holiday season. [9] Alongside this announcement is the decision to put Massive Entertainment alongside its IP's up for sale. [8] Massive studio's founder, Martin Walfisz, expressed the reason behind this action being that Activision don't want another RTS studio in Europe [8]. Shortly after the studio is put up for sale, on November 10th, 2008, Ubisoft  announced that they have acquired the studio, alongside its assets [10]. With the new acquisition, the originally planned expansion for World in Conflict, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault was able to be published by Ubisoft in March 2009. However, Ubisoft decided to retreat from the originally planned console release for World in Conflict after the studio's acquisition. [11] In March 2009, the former CEO Martin Walfisz left the company.[12]

In December 2010, Ubisoft confirmed that Massive would be working on an Assassin's Creed project. On 5 May 2011, it was announced that Massive Entertainment was collaborating on development of Assassin's Creed: Revelations, developing the Desmond's journey sequences in the game, which was released in November 2011. Massive also collaborated on the development of Far Cry 3, the studio specifically worked on the multiplayer component of the game using their prior experience with balancing and designing the competitive component for World in Conflict. [13] The game was released in November 29th, 2012.

Tom Clancy’s Division, and Tom Clancy’s Division 2 (2013 - 2019)

[edit]

After Far Cry 3, the studio was tasked with creating a "Clancy RPG" that includes tactical shooting elements, the team ultimately decided to set the world in the middle of a pendamic. [14] And at E3 2013 Massive announced their next game, Tom Clancy's The Division.[15], an online-only action role-playing video game set in the post-pandemic New York City. The 2013 and 2014 E3 trailers gained major traction in the gaming community. When the game was released on March 8th 2016, it sold more copies in its first 24 hours than any game in Ubisoft's history, the biggest first week for a new game franchise, generating $330 million in its first five days.[16]

The studio then developed 3 subsequent expansions for the game: Tom Clancy's The Division™: Underground (released on July 28th, 2016), [17] Tom Clancy's The Division™: Survival (released on November 22, 2016), [18] and Tom Clancy's The Division™: Last Stand (released on February 28, 2017). [19]

By 2017, the studio was reported to have grown to over 400 staffs members, stated in an interview by David Polfeldt, studio's managing director at the time. [20]

On March 2018, Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment announced the sequel to The Division, Tom Clancy's The Division 2. [21] The sequal took place in Washington D.C and focuses on the civil war between survivors and villainous bands of marauders, [22] Division 2 was released on March 2019, and fell short on console sales based on Ubisoft's expectations which was quoted to be caused by“fierce competition in the market”[23] and the physical launch sales number only hit 20% of Division 1's numbers. [24] However, during Ubisoft's earnings report for the first quarter of 2019, it is claimed that the game is 2019's biggest hit, although the specific sales number were never disclosed. [25]

Tom Clancy's The Division 2's expansion - Warlords of New York - was released in March, 3rd, 2020. [26]

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Star Wars Outlaws and Division 3 (2019-2024)

[edit]

In March 2017, Massive announced that their next major title would be based on James Cameron's Avatar.[27][28] The game was revealed at E3 2021 to be titled Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and released on 7 December 2023.[29] The game was reported to seen 1.9 million player by the end of January 2024, which brought in estimated $133 millions in revenue [30].

In April 2020, Massive and its more than 650 staff moved from the offices on Drottninggatan to Kvarteret Eden, a former textile factory in Malmö's Möllevången district.[3]

In January 2021, the newly reformed Lucasfilm Games announced that Massive started work on a new Star Wars title. This would be the first Star Wars game outside of Electronic Arts since they acquired a May 2013 contract to produce all Star Wars related titles.[31] This would later be revealed as Star Wars Outlaws, an open world title that focuses on the underworld activities in the Star Wars universe. [32] The game is scheduled to release in August 30th, 2024.[33]

In June 17th, 2021. David Polfeldt, who has been the studio's managing director since 2009, step down from the role to pursue career at Ubisoft. Stating that he didn't think he was the right manager for what the studio has become during an interview with high point newletter. [34] Following which, Thomas Andrén, was announced as the studio's new managing director at July 8th, 2021. [35]

During an Gamesbeat interview with Thomas Andrén in June 2024, Thomas mentioned that the studio grew to 800 employees because of the multiple large video game projects they are working on simultaneously. [36]

In September 2023, Ubisoft comfirms the existance of the next game in Tom Clancy's The Division franchise, Tom Clancy's The Division 3. This comfirmation is made through a press release stating that Julian Gerighty (creative director for Tom Clancy's The Division 2 and Star Wars Outlaws), will become the excutive producer and oversee how Tom Clancy's Division games, which includes Tom Clancy's The Division 3. [37]


History

[edit]

Creation of Massive Entertainment and Ground Control (1997 - 2002)

[edit]

Massive Entertainment was founded in 1997 by Martin Walfisz. The studio was originally planned to be named Sparks, later Nova Storm, and finally settled with the name Massive entertainment. Their first game is a Tetris port for phones in 1998, which was requested by Ericsson after the success of Nokia's snake game[1].

In June 2000, Massive Entertainment released the award-winning PC action-strategy title Ground Control, published by Sierra Studios. The same year an expansion was released named Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy. Although the game itself was well-received, it didn't sell well commercially, and the company struggled to sustain itself for a couple of years. Since the Ground Control didn't sell well enough for the studio to make a sequel. The studio took the idea of Ground Control 2 to multiple publishers, but none of them decided to fund the sequel[2].

Massive's former headquarters on Drottninggatan in Malmö (pictured in 2008). During its occupancy, from December 2007 to April 2020, the studio grew from 130 to more than 650 employees.[3]

Vivendi acquisition and World in Conflict (2002 - 2007)

[edit]

In 2002, the studio was acquired by Vivendi Universal Games through their NDA Productions subsidiary.[4] Vivendi Universal Games expressed their love towards Ground Control and ultimately decided to fund the sequel - Ground Control II: Operation Exodus, which was published by Vivendi Universal Games in 2004. The sequel brought more traditional RTS features to the game in an attempt to reach a border audience. In an interview in 2008, Martin Walfisz, the founder of the studio, expressed that he personally likes the the first game more. [5]

After the release Ground Control II: Operation Exodus, the studio spent some time to solidify their direction towards the next game, and started early prototyping of the concept in early 2005, which resulted in the game World in Conflict, described as a further development of the real-time tactics gameplay formula from the Ground Control games, but set on Earth during an alternate history late Cold War. The game's single player campaign story was created with the help of Larry Bond, co-author of Red Storm Rising. [38]

The finished game was released on 18 September 2007 and won critical acclaim, including nominations for one of the best games of 2007. The game's success even granted the inclusion of the game in several ESL tournaments. [6]

Ubisoft acquisition, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, and Far Cry 3 (2007 - 2012)

[edit]

On December 2007,  Activision announced that they will merge with Vivendi games to create Activation Blizzard. After the completion of the merger, on July 9th 2008. Activision announced that they will drop numerous Vivendi titles that are currently under development [8]( which includes World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, the expansion pack for the game World in Conflict that was originally planned to be published during 2008's holiday season. [9] Alongside this announcement is the decision to put Massive Entertainment alongside its IP's up for sale. Massive studio's founder, Martin Walfisz, expressed the reason behind this action being that Activision don't want another RTS studio in Europe [39]. Shortly after the studio is put up for sale, on November 10th, 2008, Ubisoft  announced that they have acquired the studio, alongside its assets [10]. With the new acquisition, the originally planned expansion for World in Conflict, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault was able to be published by Ubisoft in March 2009. However, Ubisoft decided to retreat from the originally planned console release for World in Conflict after the studio's acquisition. [11] In March 2009, the former CEO Martin Walfisz left the company.[12]

In December 2010, Ubisoft confirmed that Massive would be working on an Assassin's Creed project. On 5 May 2011, it was announced that Massive Entertainment was collaborating on development of Assassin's Creed: Revelations, developing the Desmond's journey sequences in the game, which was released in November 2011. Massive also collaborated on the development of Far Cry 3, the studio specifically worked on the multiplayer component of the game using their prior experience with balancing and designing the competitive component for World in Conflict. [13] The game was released in November 29th, 2012.

Tom Clancy’s Division, and Tom Clancy’s Division 2 (2013 - 2019)

[edit]

At E3 2013 Massive announced their next game, Tom Clancy's The Division.[15], an online-only action role-playing video game set in the post-pandemic New York City. The 2013 and 2014 E3 trailers gained major traction in the gaming community. When the game was released on 8 March 2016, it sold more copies in its first 24 hours than any game in Ubisoft's history, the biggest first week for a new game franchise, generating $330 million in its first five days.[16]

On March 2018, Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment announced the sequel to The Division, Tom Clancy's The Division 2. [21] The game was released on March 2019, the game fell short on console sales based on Ubisoft's expectations which was quoted to be caused by“fierce competition in the market”[23] and the physical launch sales number only hit 20% of Division 1's numbers. [24] Overall, the game still performed well in sales, although the specific sales number were never disclosed, Ubisoft claimed that the game is 2019's biggest hit. [25]

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Star Wars Outlaws and Division 3 (2019-2024)

[edit]

In March 2017, Massive announced that their next major title would be based on James Cameron's Avatar.[27][28] The game was revealed at E3 2021 to be titled Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and released on 7 December 2023.[29] The game was reported to seen 1.9 million player by the end of January 2024, which brought in $133 millions in revenue [30].

In April 2020, Massive and its more than 650 staff moved from the offices on Drottninggatan to Kvarteret Eden, a former textile factory in Malmö's Möllevången district.[3]

In January 2021, the newly reformed Lucasfilm Games announced that Massive started work on a new Star Wars open world title. This would be the first Star Wars game outside of Electronic Arts since they acquired a May 2013 contract to produce all Star Wars related titles.[31] This would later be revealed as Star Wars Outlaws, and it is scheduled to release in August 30th, 2024.[33]

In September 2023, Ubisoft announces the next game in Tom Clancy's The Division franchise, Tom Clancy's The Division 3, is in-development. [40]

  1. ^ a b c My life as a game developer - Martin Walfisz. Retrieved 2024-05-03 – via www.youtube.com.
  2. ^ a b c d Co-founder, Jim Rossignol; Rossignol, Jim (2008-04-08). "Massive On Ground Control and World In Conflict". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  3. ^ a b c d Drakeus, Emilia (9 April 2020). "Welcome to Kvarteret Eden: A Massive New Beginning". Massive Entertainment.
  4. ^ a b "Vivendi Universal Publishing announces the acquisition of a Sweden based development studio: Massive Entertainment". SPOnG.
  5. ^ a b c d "World In Conflict Developer: Martin Walfisz - Interview". SPOnG. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  6. ^ a b "World in Conflict Top Players & Prize Pools - Esports Tracker :: Esports Earnings". www.esportsearnings.com. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  7. ^ Richtel, Matt (2007-12-03). "Vivendi to Acquire Activision". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  8. ^ a b c d Thang, Jimmy (2008-08-06). "Massive Sell Off". IGN. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  9. ^ a b Author, Jared Rea Legacy (2008-11-11). "Ubisoft Acquires Massive Entertainment". The Escapist. Retrieved 2024-05-03. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  10. ^ a b Contributor, GamesIndustry International (2008-11-11). "Massive Entertainment acquisition". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2024-05-03. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  11. ^ a b "World in Conflict retreats from consoles". GameSpot. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  12. ^ a b Martin, Matt (17 March 2009). "Massive Entertainment founder leaves studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  13. ^ a b Mårtensson, Petter (2022-10-06). "How Multiplayer Was Developed for Far Cry 3". Massive Entertainment. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  14. ^ Editor, Adam Smith Former Deputy; Smith, Adam (2016-01-22). ""A Matter Of Pride" - Massive Talk PC Development, And The Setting And Structure Of The Division". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2024-05-09. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  15. ^ a b Goldfarb, Andrew (10 June 2013). "E3 2013: Open World Tom Clancy RPG The Division Announced". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  16. ^ a b "The Division Has Biggest First Week Ever for New Game Franchise - UbiBlog - Ubisoft®". 2016-03-17. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  17. ^ "The Division Underground DLC Expansion | Ubisoft Official Store". Ubisoft Store. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  18. ^ "The Division Survival DLC Expansion | Ubisoft Official Store". Ubisoft Store. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  19. ^ "The Division Last Stand DLC Expansion | Ubisoft Official Store". Ubisoft Store. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  20. ^ Editor-in-chief, James Batchelor (2017-06-09). "How Massive Entertainment tries to retain every employee for at least a decade". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2024-05-08. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  21. ^ a b Mithaiwala, Mansoor (2018-03-08). "Ubisoft's The Division 2 Officially Announced". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  22. ^ Grubb, Jeff (2018-06-10). "The Division 2 takes players into a wet, hot American capital on March 15". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  23. ^ a b Tassi, Paul. "Ubisoft Reveals 'The Division 2' Did Not Meet Sales Expectations On PS4 And Xbox One". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  24. ^ a b "The Division 2 physical launch sales just 20% of Division 1's". Eurogamer.net. 2019-03-18. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  25. ^ a b Flavius, Lou (2019-07-19). "Ubisoft Claims The Division 2 Is 2019's Biggest Hit Worldwide But Won't Release Sales Numbers". TheGamer. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  26. ^ "Tom Clancy's The Division® 2 Warlords of New York Expansion | Ubisoft (US)". www.ubisoft.com. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  27. ^ a b "Avatar Game from Division Developer Massive". ComingSoon.net. 2017-02-28. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  28. ^ a b "Massive Entertainment And Ubisoft's Avatar Game Releasing Before April 2023, Before Their Star Wars RPG". PlayStation Universe. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  29. ^ a b "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora launches December 7". Gematsu. 2023-06-12. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  30. ^ a b "Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Has Hit Just 300,000 Players, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora at 1.9 Million – Rumour". GamingBolt. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  31. ^ a b Orland, Kyle (14 January 2021). "EA's hold over Star Wars games ends with Ubisoft's open-world announcement [Updated]". Ars Technica. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  32. ^ Brooks, Dan. "Star Wars Outlaws: Creative Director Julian Gerighty Breaks Down the New Story Trailer". StarWars.com. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  33. ^ a b "Star Wars Outlaws™ Opens Up a Galaxy of Opportunity". news.ubisoft.com. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  34. ^ Brown, Nathan (2022-03-12). "Max HP: David Polfeldt, Ubisoft". Hit Points by Nathan Brown has moved. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  35. ^ Entertainment, Massive (2021-07-06). "Thomas Andrén Appointed as Massive Entertainment's New Managing Director". Massive Entertainment. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  36. ^ Takahashi, Dean (2023-06-14). "How Massive is making two blockbusters at the same time | Thomas Andren interview". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  37. ^ Caballero, David (2023-09-21). "It's official: Massive Entertainment is building a team to lead the development of The Division 3". Gamereactor UK. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  38. ^ "World In Conflict Developer: Martin Walfisz - Interview". SPOnG. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  39. ^ Thang, Jimmy (2008-08-06). "Massive Sell Off". IGN. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  40. ^ Staff, V. B. (2024-04-15). "Microsoft dives into data integrity at the latest VentureBeat AI Impact Tour". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
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