The Swedish Ubisoft studio Massive is working on new games based on Avatar and Star Wars: This raises concerns among fans of The Division about their game series. Because there seems to be no more room for post-apocalypse in Malmö. What is the future of The Division 2 and will there even be a The Division 3?
This is the situation:
- After the release of The Division 1 in 2016, the team at Massive seamlessly continued working on The Division 2 – The Division 1 was supported in the following years with updates and DLCs by other Ubisoft studios
- The Division 2 was released on March 15, 2019, and received 3 episodes as free DLC
- The expansion “Warlords of New York” was released on March 3, 2020 – that was a surprise at the time
- At the moment it is unclear how the series “The Division 2” is to be substantially continued. The current Season 4 is expected to run until February 2021. What happens after that is unknown
- The future of the “The Division” series has now been questioned by an announcement from Ubisoft that Massive is working on a new Star Wars game
The question is: How will the game series The Division 2 continue? Will there be anything substantial for The Division 2 or even a The Division 3?
“Team looks forward to new experience”
This indicates that Massive is no longer working on The Division: Yesterday, Ubisoft announced that Massive is working for Lucasfilm Games on a new story-based game based on Star Wars .
Leading the project are David Polfeldt and Julian Gerighty. They are the two frontmen of the “The Division” series.
It seems likely that the new Star Wars game will be implemented by the team that has been working on “The Division” in Malmö.
It may therefore be that Massive in Malmö is no longer working on The Division.
There is also evidence that Massive is looking for many employees, but only for the Avatar project and the new Star Wars project. No employees are being specifically sought for The Division.
Even in Ubisoft’s press release, it is only stated that Massive is working on Avatar and Star Wars, with The Division only mentioned in hindsight. Gerighty says they are at the beginning of a new journey. For him, it is now a departure from the world of “The Division.” But he and the team are very excited to start a new experience.
At the moment, there is a lack of a clear statement about what will happen to The Division.
The Division 2 fell short of Ubisoft’s sales expectations
The future of The Division had already been questioned because the sales of The Division 2 fell short of expectations, especially on PS4 and Xbox One. The Division 2 has been pushed by Ubisoft towards being a flop.
The tactical shooter was part of the reason why Ubisoft wanted to revise its release policy in November 2019: Apparently, The Division 2 was too similar to its predecessor and they could not explain to fans why they should buy a new The Division.
In March 2020, free promotions briefly boosted The Division 2, but that boost apparently only lasted a short time.
This is the hope of the fans: On Reddit, the topic “What is now with us?” is discussed in detail. Many fans assume that The Division is not being developed further at Massive. They believe the studio is fully occupied with Star Wars and Avatar.
However, there is hope that the “The Division” series will be continued by another Ubisoft studio. There is hope for “Red Storm,” a studio in North Carolina that previously contributed to The Division 1 and 2.
On Reddit, it is also conceivable that the series will pause for a while and take a breather. There is hardly any thought of an ultimate end for the series. After all, Massive has already invested a lot into the series. Some fans could even imagine a spin-off.
Some also point out that it is a strange time for a series like “The Division,” since the current pandemic makes The Division, with its scenario of a deadly virus that depopulates cities, perhaps too close to reality.
The Division 2 and the Corona virus: I have a queasy feeling
