What is coming up for The Division 2 in the new year? What is currently happening and what is still to come? A new expansion? The Division 3? Or nothing at all? Learn here what is known so far.
As of the beginning of 2021, The Division 2 is now in its 4th season. At the same time, the 2nd year of the game is slowly coming to an end. Many agents might now be asking themselves: What can I expect next? And what will happen with the game? What about year 3?
MeinMMO summarizes below what is known so far and presents some theories from the community.
What to expect in year 2
What is currently happening in The Division 2? Following the major Title Update 12 in December 2020, The Division 2 is currently running Season 4 “End of Watch.” This continues the events after the Warlords expansion and sends players hunting for their former boss, who has gone rogue.
The end of Season 4 will also mark the end of year 2. The season runs until early March, at which point year 3 of The Division 2 will also begin.
What else is planned for year 2? The season continues to provide the game with fresh content until the end of February.
In this context, various events will follow, and the seasonal manhunt, i.e. the hunt for the old boss Faye Lau, will continue.
More information about Season 4 can be found here: The Division 2: Title Update 12 & Season 4 starting – What to expect
There are two events that should be particularly interesting:
- The apparel event Codename Nightmare
- and the Title Update 12.1 not listed in the roadmap
The apparel event “Codename: Nightmare” is based on the former special event that was originally supposed to take place in a repurposed Kenly College. The event was intended to offer a new, unique gameplay experience, which the developers have now discarded. Instead, it will now be an apparel event like none seen before in The Division 2. More details can be found here: New details about the mysterious Nightmare event – What can we expect?
Additionally, Title Update 12.1 is set to arrive on February 2, 2021, which should be interesting for many players. This update will not only introduce Codename: Nightmare but also provide a next-gen upgrade for the new consoles PS5 and Xbox Series X.
This will make The Division 2 playable on the PlayStation 5 and Series X
- in 4K
- and running at 60 FPS
which embodies one of the biggest (technical) wishes of console players.
What about year 3?
Here’s the current situation: This topic is currently causing unrest and speculation within the community. Recently, it became known that the first new Star Wars game without EA will actually be coming from Massive, the creators of The Division 2. However, the studio is also working on The Avatar Project. Is there still room for The Division 2 as a third AAA title? Many think “no” and assume that Ubisoft and Massive may let the franchise fall or neglect it.
And although year 2 is about to end with Season 4, there is still nothing concrete officially known about the future of the franchise. Except that the Division franchise will likely continue. Ubisoft has confirmed this upon request.
The German-speaking Division YouTuber Charles inquired about the state of affairs after the news about Star Wars made the rounds. Many saw this as the end of the Division franchise. Ubisoft responded to him:
Here is his video on the matter:
So the franchise itself will likely continue. However, neither Ubisoft nor Massive are giving clear insights. However, there are currently some common theories within the community about how the game might continue.
Theory 1 – Keep The Division 2 running: Many find it quite possible that Massive and Ubisoft will simply keep The Division 2 running into year 3, meaning they might keep it alive on a low flame through the seasonal model without providing further substantial content.
Currently, it seems quite questionable whether Massive will even bring a major expansion in the style of “Warlords of New York” or if they themselves (or another studio) are working on The Division 3. According to statements from Ubisoft, they were rather disappointed with the financial outcome of “The Division 2” – especially sales on consoles apparently fell short of expectations. It didn’t sound like they believed in a bright future for the game.
This theory is currently considered the most likely within the community.
Theory 2 – A new expansion is coming: Others believe that at least one more addon in the style of Warlords (or something more compact) could be released at the beginning of year 3 – whether from Massive or from another Ubisoft developer studio. The Division 2 still has several loose ends content-wise.
The collectible “Langley Reports” also give some agents reason to hope. Although this category was recently introduced into the game, no one has been able to earn them so far. Some players expect this to lead to another DLC.
Reported contents from the Langley Reports have been leaked on Reddit, mentioning worldwide CIA operations, which suggests that there could potentially be a location outside of the USA. Some supposed datamining findings also hint that Season 4 might lead into another addon. However, these remain mere speculation.
Division YouTuber Charles goes into this matter in more detail in this video:
Additionally, some players see parallels between the current communication policy of Ubisoft and Massive and the situation shortly before the announcement of “Warlords of New York.” Back then, as now, there was a prolonged silence regarding the future of The Division 2 before the big Warlords expansion was announced almost out of nowhere. Although Star Wars has been announced as the next major project, fans have not completely given up hope for The Division.
Theory 3 – The Division 3 is coming: Others speculate that Ubisoft might still announce a third installment in the Division series, possibly with a different developer than Massive. Perhaps Red Storm Entertainment (they changed their Twitter background to a “Rogue Agent” symbol from The Division at the end of 2020).
This theory cites a relatively young feature from The Division 2 that was just introduced with Title Update 12 – the optimization station. Many see clear parallels to the end of The Division 1 and the announcement of The Division 2.
The optimization station also existed in the first game. It is a powerful tool for refining endgame builds. For a certain fee, you can squeeze the full potential out of every gear item by driving its stats up to 100% of the possible maximum. This feature was introduced at the end of The Division’s lifecycle and essentially gave agents “something cool to play with” before The Division 2 was announced.
Many now see this as confirmation that The Division 2 could also be reaching the end of its lifecycle. This feature allows you to essentially perfect your gear yourself – although it still requires some effort. While this may be entertaining for some time, ultimately it is a death knell for the loot shooter if you no longer have to grind for the best gear in the game but can assemble it yourself (though you still need to earn the necessary components for optimization).
At the same time, the proponents of this theory believe that Ubisoft will not simply abandon this franchise and that the Division series could continue at least with a different developer than Massive.
However, this is still pure speculation. What will ultimately happen remains completely open. But players probably won’t have to wait long for clarity. By March, when year 3 begins, Massive and Ubisoft should break their silence regarding the future of The Division 2, and we should all be a lot wiser then.
Currently, fans are still worried about the future of the series – No Division 3?
What do you think? How will it continue with The Division 2 in year 3? Do you think there will even be a proper year 3? And what do you think about the future of the franchise? Let us know and other readers of MeinMMO in the comments.
