Julian Gerighty, series producer on The Division at Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment, has left the French company to join EA and Battlefield Studios, Massive announced this morning. Despite the fact that Gerighty's return to The Division and his appointment as the series lead were supposed to be votes of confidence in Ubisoft's favour for The Division 3, now that he's leaving, Ubisoft doesn't want The Division players to be concerned.
The news was announced in a short post on X (formerly Twitter) from the official Ubisoft Massive account, which says of Gerighty, "Once an Agent, always an Agent." It's also worth noting that Gerighty's departure is now confirmed after rumours floated online that Gerighty was leaving back in October 2025, rumours that Massive directly denied at the time.
"Today, we want to share that Julian Gerighty, executive producer on the Tom Clancy's The Division franchise is heading off to a new adventure at Battlefield Studios," the statement reads. "While we'll miss him, his mark will live on at Massive and we'll continue to bring the world he's been part of creating to our players for years to come."
After thanking Gerighty, the post continues by addressing players, saying, "For our players, don't worry, Agents. Our teams who built this world with Julian are still here, carrying it forward with an ambitious, unchanged commitment for the future with The Division 2, The Division 2: Survivors, The Division Resurgence and The Division 3."
For Gerighty's part, on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account, he wrote, "It's time for me to hang up my go bag (keeping the watch) as I go on another grand adventure. The Division future burns bright, and I can't wait for you to discover what the teams have been working on. Long live The Division and Godspeed!"
The messages from Massive and from Gerighty are meant to try and calm any concerns players might have about his departure, but it's doubtful they've succeeded. Several of the comments under Massive's announcement are players sharing concerns for the future of The Division franchise and, most importantly, The Division 3, and you can't exactly blame them.
Not only does this news come days after Ubisoft laid off 55 developers from Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft Stockholm, but it also arrives at a time when, for all the recent talk about The Division 3 (talk that was coming from Gerighty), we've still not seen anything from the game as we come up on three years since its official announcement.
There's also the fact that The Division 2 will be seven years old this coming March 12, 2026, and players have wanted nothing more than a proper sequel for at least the last four years, and outside of The Division, Ubisoft doesn't exactly seem to be in a particularly strong place.
The company is currently embroiled in a battle with the CWA Canada after suddenly shuttering the Ubisoft Halifax studio, three weeks after the majority of the branch voted to unionize. It also recently laid off staff at its Ubisoft Abu Dhabi team, and the company is still seemingly in the midst of a restructuring following the establishment of Vantage Studios.
Gerighty's departure is also the second time in the span of a year that the series lead for one of the company's major franchises left shortly after layoff announcements, the first having been the former head of the Assassin's Creed franchise, Marc-Alexis Côté, leaving amidst layoffs and restructuring due to Vantage Studios being established. A departure that was also marked by Ubisoft seemingly trying to spin it as Côté choosing to leave, when in actuality, Ubisoft asked him to "step aside."
When you look at the broader picture of the current state of Ubisoft, if you're a fan of The Division, it's pretty impossible for you not to be concerned about where the franchise will go from here. Yes, Gerighty is just one person, and it's not as if his sole contributions to the franchise were what made it the third-person shooter you love, but you have to wonder what it says about the state of a company when it has lost yet another veteran developer in a lead role on one of its major franchises.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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