The Division Heartland has been cancelled, Ubisoft is focusing on a few large-scale projects

Ubisoft announced that he had canceled The Division Heartlandthe free-to-play spinoff of The Division series planned for PlayStation, Xbox and PC, a decision made as part of a larger strategy through which the company will focus on “bigger opportunities.”

The confirmation came during the latest financial report for Ubisoft shareholders, explaining that the move is part of a strategy launched in the last quarter which includes the restructuring of internal teams, operations to cut costs and a shift in focus to a limited number of great games. As for the developers of Heartland, namely Red Storm Entertainment, they will move on to new internal projects, including Rainbow Six and XDefiant.

“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue development of Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland, effective immediately,” reads the Ubisoft statement. “Our priority now is to support the talented team members of our Red Storm Entertainment studio, who will move on to new projects within our company, including XDefiant and Rainbow Six.”

Layoffs and Ubisoft’s new strategy

In the shareholder report Ubisoft stated that it had laid off over 1,700 people in the last 18 months. As of March, Ubisoft had 19,011 employees worldwide.

CEO Yves Guillemot told investors the company is “back on track” for a “profitable growth trajectory.” He added that in the future the company will pursue a strategy to obtain the leadership in open world adventure games, while expanding its offering regarding GaaS. This year the company plans to release Assassin’s Creed Shadows (revealed today), Rainbow Six Mobile, Star Wars Outlaws (late August), The Division Resurgence and XDefiant, which is scheduled to launch next week.

Instead, from a technological point of view, Ubisoft will focus mainly on two proprietary graphics engines, Anvil and Snowdrop, and will continue to decisively pursue generative artificial intelligence technology, in particular with the NEO NPC program.