Currently, there may be server issues with The Division – as agents are returning in droves.
A week ago, the free Update 1.8 for The Division was released. Many players therefore donned their agent gear again, plunged into the post-apocalypse, and checked out what’s new.
Apparently, the influx to the servers is now greater than Massive expected, as the servers are currently under a lot of pressure. The developers need to scale up.
Player numbers skyrocketed
The official player numbers on PS4 and Xbox One cannot be viewed, but the Steam charts provide a clear picture of how many agents are now roaming in post-apocalyptic New York via Steam (PC).
In the past weeks and months, the maximum number of simultaneously active agents rarely exceeded 4,000. At the launch of Update 1.8, this number rose to 12,000, and in recent days it even surpassed 30,000!
For comparison: This many players were not online at the same time throughout the year 2017. When Update 1.7 was released in summer 2017, the maximum was only 20,000.
These have been the phases with the largest player base so far:
- At the launch in March 2016, the maximum was clearly over 100,000
- In autumn 2016, 38,000 were reached
- And now, in December 2017, the numbers are once again over 30,000 after more than a year
Massive needs to increase capacity
When the third global event started yesterday, on December 12, the servers apparently crashed. Some users reported server issues, that disruptions occurred, and that online services were unavailable.
The peak was reached in the afternoon, when over Steam 30,000 agents were online at the same time.
Shortly thereafter, Massive spoke up. The Division servers would be nearing maximum capacity – and this on all platforms. The reason for this is the third global event, which attracts numerous agents.
Therefore, there may currently be queues, and you might be redirected to other data centers while playing. They are working on increasing server capacity as quickly as possible.
Is The Division 1.8 worth it?
If you haven’t played The Division for a while, now is definitely the time to check it out again. Firstly, the Update 1.8 is free, and secondly, it brought numerous new features and improvements. Moreover, as the current numbers show, The Division is once again full of life.
While The Division is still not completely bug-free, many agents agree that we currently have the best version of The Division. It is frequently noted on social media that The Division 1.8 is indeed very good.
Since the third global event is currently ongoing until December 18, which allows for a new gaming experience, the shared-world shooter is particularly worthwhile these days.
You can read here about the new features that Update 1.8 brought with it.
