The Heartland Division is canceled due to Ubisoft laying off 1,700 people

The main art of the Heartland Division — The Heartland division no longer exists (Ubisoft)

Ubisoft wants to save £170m over the next two years as free-to-play spin-off The Division Heartland is cancelled.

Just when you think the mass layoffs that have engulfed the games industry are over, along comes another financial report and there's more misery for developers. Although the results for Ubisoft show that much of the damage has already been done, with the company quietly laying off 1,700 employees over the course of the last year and a half.

That's still not enough for them, however, as they target €200 million (£172 million) in cost savings by 2026, including the cancellation of the free-to-play title. The Heartland Division.

The game was already announced in 2021 and has been in development for a total of three years. Curiously, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the game didn't fit with the company's focus on open-world adventures or live service titles, even though it was believed to be both.

Only a small amount of gameplay footage ever leaked for the game, which was very similar to the first two titles, so it's not at all clear why Heartland was canceled. Apart from the fact that maybe the development just didn't go that well.

“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to cease development of Tom Clancy's The Division Heartland with immediate effect. Our priority now is to support the talented team members at our Red Storm Entertainment studio, who will move on to new projects within our company, including XDefiant and Rainbow Six,” is all Ubisoft has officially said.

While that doesn't seem to bode well for The Division franchise in general, not only is there another mobile spin-off on the way, but last September Ubisoft confirmed they were working on The Division 3 – although it won't be released for several years.

Like every other games company, Ubisoft has been trying to cut costs lately, which has not only led to mass layoffs but also the cancellation of several games, including an apparent sequel to Immortals Fenyx Rising 2 and the never-properly-heralded Project Q.

Several other unannounced games have also been canceled, along with a VR Splinter Cell game and Ghost Recon Frontline – although the latter was more because Fans campaigned against it.

According to Guillemot, Ubisoft is now 'back on track', with record annual and quarterly net bookings (basically revenue), although operating profit was lower than last year.

Despite appearing to be a flop, Ubisoft claims so Skull and bones saw 'strong engagement' and the second-best daily play time for any Ubisoft title. That only seems to be based on how things were right after launch, but apparently a Season 2 is coming, with new solo and PvE modes.

The Crew Motorfest also seemed quickly forgotten after launch, but according to Ubisoft it has outperformed The Crew 2.

Like other publishers, Ubisoft's current plan is to make fewer, bigger games, which poses very obvious dangers if any of them fail – and makes it even riskier to try something new or unusual.

The upcoming list includes Star Wars Outlaws, the recently revealed Assassin's Creed ShadowsXDefiant, Rainbow Six Mobile and mobile title The Division Resurgence.