Maybe 2018/2019 is still too early for a The Division 2. Perhaps the agent journey will first continue in The Division 1. Perhaps we will learn the answers to these questions in a month: Because then E3 2017 will take place. We are curious.
What will happen to the agents in 1-2 years? Ubisoft announced four AAA games for the fiscal year 2019. Is The Division 2 included?
The agents are heading towards an uncertain future. What Year 2 brings, in which we have already been for months, is still far from fully known. This May, loadouts and bug fixes will arrive, events are expected in summer, and towards the end of the year there will be a somewhat larger update. But everything is still quite vague; there is no concrete information on the entire “Year 2” plan. And everything beyond that is completely unknown.
Whether a Year 3 will follow in 2018/2019, whether Ubisoft and Massive will release a sequel, or whether the Division franchise will slowly fade away with Year 2 – there is currently no concrete information available.
It is unlikely that there will suddenly be an end after Year 2. After all, The Division has been and is a very successful franchise for Ubisoft. Recently, the publisher reported in its fiscal year 2017 report, which ended on March 31, 2017, that the “Tom Clancy” games currently have over 44 million players. They won’t simply give up on The Division.
Furthermore, it can be inferred from the business report: There could be a “The Division 2” on the horizon.
Is “The Division 2” among the three new AAA games in known franchises?
The current fiscal year, running from April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, will bring four big Ubisoft AAA games. These are now known: A new Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry 5, The Crew 2, and South Park: The Fractured But Whole. This means: During this period, no new “The Division” installment will be released.
In the next fiscal year, running from April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019, the situation looks different. According to Ubisoft, four new AAA titles will be released in this period. One of these games will be a completely new brand (speculations can be read here), while the other three games will be AAA titles from already established franchises. Possible titles could include sequels to For Honor, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Rainbow Six: Siege, or indeed The Division.
Interesting: According to CEO Yves Guillemot, there will be a new Ghost Recon game before a new Rainbow Six game.
But is The Division 2 among these three new games?
What suggests a “The Division 2”?
In February of this year, Ubisoft revealed that no new title for a currently successful franchise will be released in 2017 – as originally planned – but that it will be expanded with updates.
From this vague statement by Ubisoft, we speculated that The Division was meant. That was in February, before “Year 2” was revealed. And it turned out to be true: It is now certain that The Division will not receive a sequel in 2017, but will be supplied with free updates. However, it has not been confirmed whether Ubisoft was indeed referring to The Division.
If so, it would indicate: A The Division 2 is in planning!
Perhaps those responsible recognized in time that the agents have high expectations for the future of The Division, which is why the sequel was delayed to make it more in line with the wishes and demands of the community. For example, that new content can be provided faster. Or there may have been other restructuring. This would be a similar process to what Destiny 2 underwent.
Furthermore, the current Year 2 of The Division seems quite “improvised”. As if a sequel should have been released, but was delayed, and now a contingency plan had to be implemented. Because new content is scarce; instead, previous activities are supposed to be enhanced with events, and replayability increased. Whether the actual plans for 2017 were postponed or abandoned remains speculation.
One thing is certain: Massive is working behind the scenes on new content. The only question is: Whether for The Division 2 or for Year 3.
What suggests a Year 3?
Massive has made many efforts in recent months to make The Division future-proof. Update 1.4 was a major overhaul for the shared-world shooter; later a new PvP mode was established; slowly the game has outgrown its growing pains. It would be a shame to dismiss it with reheated content and then say: “Friends, that’s it!”
Interesting in this context are statements from Ubisoft’s business report: The keywords for the future Ubisoft strategy are Multiplayer, Competitive, Co-Op, Open Worlds, and Live Operations. Live Operations refers to the lucrative “Games as a Service” approach, where games are provided with new content even after release. Games that developers continuously take care of.
Ubisoft wants to focus more on Live Content, more expansions, and ensure that players return in the fiscal year 2019.
All of this could indicate that The Division will indeed receive a Year 3 with new content and expansions, so that players can joyfully don their agent suits again. This is at least the approach that Ubisoft intends to pursue more intensively with games.
Maybe 2018/2019 is still too early for a The Division 2. Perhaps the agent journey will first continue in The Division 1. Perhaps we will learn the answers to these questions in a month: Because then E3 2017 will take place. We are curious.
Tom Clancy's The Division is an MMO shooter by Ubisoft. Players find themselves in a wintry New York, where people are fighting for their very survival. A virus...
