The Division devs recount their ongoing struggle with fun and fairness

“The way we reasoned, and still do, is that there’s two basic rules. The first one is: if using the exploit gives a player an unfair advantage compared to other players, it should be fixed. The second rule is if the exploit makes the time you spend in the game less enjoyable, it should be fixed.”

-Fredrik Bronjemark, online and live operations director for The Division on the team's process for fixing bugs and exploits. 

The Division has seen its share of ups and downs since its launch in March earlier this year. Initial sales broke records for Ubisoft, but the game has had prolonged issues with player engagement, bugs, and cheating in the months following its release. In a recent Kotaku interview, various members of the development team talked about the myriad of issues they faced after launching The Division and what they hope for the game’s future.

The full story is a useful read for developers who want to familiarize themselves with some of the conflicts an online game can face after launch, and how The Division’s development team is still working to keep the game both fun and fair for all players. 

Currently, Ubisoft has shelved the next two expansions for The Division, and instead channeled their efforts into rebalancing and fixing the issues that have driven players away from the game. 

“We realized that we needed the Update 1.4 in order to bring the game back to full health and prepare us and the players for Survival and Last Stand,” said Massive Entertinement producer Cristian Pana.

“For us, it was assessing where the game was at, what needed to be fixed in order for us to be confident and build faith in the community and then prioritize the key areas that needed to be improved.”