Stepping beyond the shooter: Developing The Division

It's almost not worth discussing the fact that at E3 this year, the triple-A space was dominated by the shooter. It's the status quo, heading into the next gen — and so far, not much is changing. The observation that this is the case is trite.

However, it's also clear that people are starting to become tired of it — at least the press, and maybe even developers. There's an understanding that games can do more. And as we reach a new technological beachhead, maybe we can also reach a new creative one.

Speaking to David Polfeldt, managing director of Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment studio, lead developers of Tom Clancy's The Division, it's clear that he has ambitions to do more with his game than present another twitch shooter — and to do more with storytelling.