Recently, the story trailer for The Division 2 was introduced, and now there are discussions in the community about the graphical quality of the shared-world shooter.
This is shown in the story trailer: In several scenes, the setting around Washington D.C. and the stationed Division is introduced. Insights into the various factions are also provided.
Immediately after the release of the story trailer, there were initial remarks that the graphics looked relatively disappointing. While some are concerned about this, other fans are more relaxed about it. But what is the problem?
Graphics too poor? This is what fans think
This is how the community reacts: Overall, the trailer is met with disappointment. Most fans agree that it is simply nothing special.
Some negatively evaluate the graphical quality of the shown scenes. On Reddit, u/Cucobr asks: “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but was the graphics of the story trailer set to ‘Low’? Or was it just recorded on console?” Many agree with him.
As a possible reason for the poor graphics, some fans speculate about the compression due to the upload of the trailer on YouTube. This can actually degrade the quality of the video, making the graphics look blurry and more pixelated.
Not everyone agrees with this idea, as u/Aphrobang states: “Compression does not explain the terrible textures on the faces of the agents shown in the video.”
Not everyone is worried: There are also some fans who are not bothered by the scenes. They rely on the feedback from the alpha testers. Many alpha testers have reported that the alpha version of The Division 2 was graphically superior to the first part. This is enough for most fans.
Additionally, fans also theorize that Ubisoft itself may be involved with the possibly poorer graphics.
“Poor” graphics in the trailer to avoid downgrade discussion?
Was the quality intentionally reduced? At first glance, this sounds unbelievable, as one wants to promote the product in a trailer. In the case of The Division 2, fans have identified a potential reason: the downgrade discussion prior to the release of The Division 1.
What happened? Before the release of the first part, there were some bombastic trailers and gameplay videos that were supposed to introduce The Division at that time. The graphics of that demo looked incredible, especially for the standards of 2013.
Too good, as it would turn out. Later trailers and gameplays clearly showed that the quality of the graphics had significantly deteriorated during the development. However, developers Massive and publisher Ubisoft denied this for a long time. It was one of the bigger downgrade scandals that have existed so far.
Does Ubisoft want to avoid such a thing? Many fans are now speculating that in the story trailer, they intentionally avoided cinematic scenes and enhanced graphics to give fans a realistic picture of the game.
Regardless of whether YouTube or a low graphic setting is the problem, players are concerned. This will likely remain the case at least until the private beta. The private beta is scheduled for the 7th and runs until February 11th.
What do you think of the discussion?
