Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot recently announced that The Division 2 has better pre-order numbers on PC than its predecessor. Why is that? We analyze the possible reasons.
More interest in The Division 2: Ubisoft founder Yves Guillemot commented on the pre-orders of The Division 2 in an interview with pcgamer.com.
Apparently, the PC version has been pre-ordered more often than the first part.
Despite the trouble Ubisoft had with Steam, player interest seems to be higher than with the predecessor.
What the Steam conflict is about: Ubisoft has removed The Division 2 from Steam, opting instead for the Epic Game Launcher. Many Steam customers were not at all satisfied with the decision.
Similar situations occurred with Metro Exodus, which even led to a dispute between a developer and fans.
Higher numbers despite Steam trouble
How can this be? Well, Ubisoft does not provide definitive reasons here, nor exact numbers. Nevertheless, we attempt to analyze how this came about. Keep in mind that this is only about the PC version.
The Division 1 was very successful: The Division 1 broke Ubisoft’s sales record in its first year. So many units were sold in the first 24 hours as with no other Ubisoft game. It was also the best-selling game in 2016.
The shared-world shooter was a hit despite various issues with content. And the success continued, with the game improving over the years. Therefore, it remained successful in the year of the announcement of The Division 2.
In March 2018, Ubisoft announced over 20 million registered Division players. The player numbers remained so constant that even the creators were surprised. Thus, the popularity of The Division has increased over time.
The possible reasons for the increased interest: The Division 1 is remembered by many as a game that initially struggled with serious issues. But the developers kept at it, implemented feedback and made it a good title that still has some quirks.
This seems to have built a reputation. Many simply want to see how the story continues.
Although the hype may not be as euphoric, it seems many old players from the predecessor are returning. Added to that are their friends, new interested players, and returnees.
Beta access played a role
More interest leads to more pre-orders: In the end, more people want to find out how it plays due to the increased interest. This is where the pre-order bonuses come into play.
With access to the Private Beta as a pre-order bonus, they capitalized on the interest. Many likely pre-ordered solely because of this.
Even The Division 1 broke records with its beta, which around 6.4 million registered users participated in. The Division 2 beta even recorded about 4 times as many users who signed up for the draw.
Ubisoft helps with gifts
This makes pre-ordering even more enticing: Recently, PC pre-orderers receive one of 3 Ubisoft games as a gift:
- With Ghost Recon: Wildlands,
- Far Cry: Primal
- or Watch Dogs 2
Even if someone already has all the games, they will receive another, still unknown reward later in the game. This also makes pre-ordering interesting for those who were still unsure.
Ubisoft itself has not provided possible reasons for the higher numbers. However, they are likely feeling validated that the decision to switch platforms to the Epic Games Store was the right one.
Because for their own Uplay store, this has already paid off. The number of pre-orders here has already increased by 6 times compared to The Division 1. This was also confirmed by Guillemot to pcgamer.com.
The PC version features can be seen here in the trailer:
You can read about the system requirements of the PC version with us:
