Developer Massive Entertainment, the team behind the highly-anticipated massively-multiplayer shooter The Division, has revealed that Ubisoft’s decision to delay Watch Dogs was “tremendously important” and proved the publisher is more interested in quality than timelines.

"It’s tremendously important for us as a developer studio, to know that the owner and the publisher are ready to take that hit", explained David Polfeldt, managing director of Massive Entertainment, in an interview with Examiner. “I think their shares fell 25% on the day it was announced it was being delayed. It takes so much courage to live through that day and still think that was a good decision. So for us in the development [side of things], that’s an important message that ultimately the management will back up the goals that we have, which is the game has to be great.”

Polfeldt also revealed that the development team was always challenged to push the boundaries of innovation, rather than being hamstrung by tight deadlines: "When we go to the internal milestones, we’re constantly being pushed for more innovation, thinking further, what could you do that surprises even ourselves? What are we not doing that we could do? Have you studied the competition? So there’s never a discussion about 'just get it done guys, hurry up, we have a deadline, and it doesn't matter if it's really perfect, just get it done.'"

Tom Clancy's The Division was revealed at E3 2013 with a rather stunning gameplay trailer, but other than a handful of information and a rather impressive tech demo, little has been heard about what we can expect from the title. According to Polfeldt, this elusive nature can only be a good thing. "That’s ultimately the end goal and then it’s a million times better if it’s on time, but if there is a choice between time and quality, then quality will win."