Massive Entertainment AB is a Swedish

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

and a studio of

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

based in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

. The company has been fully owned by

since 2008. The studio is known for ''

Tom Clancy's The Division ''Tom Clancy's The Division'' is a 2016 online-only action role-playing video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. It was released on 8 March for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is set in a near ...

'', '' The Division 2'', '' Ground Control'', and '' World in Conflict''.

History

Massive Entertainment was founded in 1997 by Martin Walfisz. In June 2000, Massive 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''. In 2002, the studio was acquired by Vivendi Universal Games through their NDA Productions subsidiary. In October 2007, they released the game '' World in Conflict'', described as a further development of the

real-time tactics Real-time tactics (RTT)(Article at IGN discussing their perception of RTS and related genres as of 2006. RTT is discussed as a new and not yet established genre from the publisher's perspective, so currently all RTT possible titles are still con ...

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...

formula from the ''Ground Control'' games, but set on Earth during an alternate history late

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. The game was released on 18 September 2007 and won critical acclaim, including nominations for one of the best games of 2007. It was followed by an expansion, '' World in Conflict: Soviet Assault''. In December 2007, the studio moved into new offices on Drottninggatan in Malmö, employing 130 people at the time. On 6 August 2008,

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King. Founded in July 2 ...

put up Massive Entertainment for sale after the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games and the subsequent internal reorganization. On 10 November 2008,

acquired Massive Entertainment. In March 2009, following the acquisition, the former CEO Martin Walfisz left the company. In December 2010,

confirmed that Massive would be working on an ''

Assassin's Creed ''Assassin's Creed'' is a historical fiction, historical action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal using the game engine Anvil (game engine), Anvil and its m ...

'' 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'', which was released in December 2012. At

E3 2013 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013 (E3 2013) was the 19th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, with many press conferences taking place at nearby venues including the Microsoft Theate ...

Massive announced their next game, ''

''. The game was released on 8 March 2016 and 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. In March 2017, Massive announced that their next major title would be based on '' James Cameron's Avatar''. The game was revealed at E3 2021 to be titled '' Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora'' and released on 7 December 2023. 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 Möllevången, also called Möllan, is a neighbourhood of Malmö, situated in the Borough of Södra Innerstaden, Malmö Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden. It covers an area of , bordered by five streets: Bergsgatan, Amiralsgatan, Nobelvägen a ...

district. In January 2021, the newly reformed Lucasfilm Games announced that Massive started work on a new ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

open world In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the Gamer, player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. Notable games in this category include ''The Legend of Zelda (video game ...

title. This would be the first ''Star Wars'' game outside of

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

since they acquired a May 2013 contract to produce all ''Star Wars'' related titles. This would later be revealed as '' Star Wars Outlaws,'' and it released in August of 2024.

Technology

Games developed

Cancelled

* ''9 Worlds'' (

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Ubisoft divisions and subsidiaries Former Activision subsidiaries Companies based in Malmö Video game companies of Sweden Video game development companies Video game companies established in 1997 Swedish companies established in 1997 2008 mergers and acquisitions