The real, horrifying reason that The Division takes place during Christmas

LOS ANGELES — Tinsel hangs from an awning, and sparkly white lights twirl around a pillar. This is New York City during the holidays — only in publisher Ubisoft’s The Division, these comforting sights come in stark contrast to an environment that is falling apart due to a crisis. And the reason that Ubisoft set that crisis during the holidays is frighteningly real.

Tom Clancy’s The Division is an open-world online shooter where you control a member of an elite unit that is attempting to save New York City from falling into chaos. A biological weapon has wiped out huge swaths of the population, and the reason players must work their way through a Manhattan set up for Christmas isn’t just because it looks cool or because developer Massive really likes Die Hard. No, it’s because the studio’s research revealed that a terrorist biological attack would have the most devastating impact on the United States if it hit on Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

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