Again in 2016, Ubisoft launched its new Tom Clancy shooter, The Division. It was a part of a brand new wave of titles, like Future, that mixed the web persistence of an MMO with more standard gameplay: on this case, the tactical cowl shooter.
The authentic Division shifted over ten million copies earlier than a sequel, The Division 2, launched in 2019. So far, the franchise has attracted over 40 million players.
The sequence has clearly been successful, however no less than initially, it got here with a substantial studying curve for Ubisoft. When we spoke to François-Xavier Deniele, VP of promoting and esports for Rainbow Six Siege, he likened operating a live-service sport to altering the engine of a automobile whereas it is still driving. The Division crew agrees with this analogy, however says that it’s more like a bus.
“That you must have folks on board with you,” says Fredrik Brönjemark, senior producer for The Division at Ubisoft Large. “Everybody on the bus has an opinion on which path we ought to take.” He provides that the factor that makes or breaks a dwell sport is how an organization treats its core viewers; these are the individuals who are going to exit and advocate and unfold constructive phrase of mouth.
“The greatest lesson is to not take our players with no consideration,” he says. “That is one thing we study the onerous manner at some factors. If a participant is a long-term fan, we ought to battle to maintain them. We should always by no means just assume they’re going to keep on with us as a result of they are a fan.”
One other problem of helming a long-running sport like The Division is making certain you make investments appropriately within the tech aspect of issues, as finally it will meet up with you and cease you from having the ability to add to the sport in the best way you need.
“That you must take note of the extent of time and sources you set into refactoring previous code and dealing on decreasing the tech debt,” The Division 2’s artistic director, Yannick Banchereau, explains. “In some unspecified time in the future, it will sluggish issues down loads or it will tie your arms on what you are in a position to do. That is one thing that we have learnt and work on in a very organised manner right this moment, a lot more so than up to now.”
When transferring throughout to The Division 2, Ubisoft needed to deal with among the shortcomings of the unique sport. Particularly, the primary title got here beneath hearth for not having sufficient endgame content material, which means that after somebody had completed the marketing campaign, there was little or no to do.
“We began with the endgame,” Banchereau says. “We considered that first; how was that going to play and what did that imply in flip for the marketing campaign expertise? That was the basic shift in mindset. There have been lots of various factors, however finally, it performed an excellent huge half in how we have managed to keep up The Division 2 for such a very long time in comparison with The Division.” The Division 2 launched in 2019, with post-launch assist meant to complete in late 2020 after the Warlords of New York enlargement. Developer Large Leisure was set to maneuver its focus to different initiatives like Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. However the success of that DLC meant that Ubisoft needed to maintain The Division 2 going.
“Rebuilding the crew and producing new content material took a while,” Brönjemark admits. “However since then, we have been constructing at tempo. It was very discreet at first and really a lot focused at our personal players, ensuring that we solidified the baseline of players to maintain our followers engaged, after which attempt to begin constructing new methods, constructing new foundations.”
More lately, Large launched a second enlargement for The Division 2 referred to as the Battle for Brooklyn in 2025. This has helped the sport attain new ranges of success; just lately the title hit a brand new file on Steam of 27,482 concurrent players.
“Battle for Brooklyn was the second the place folks began noticing that The Division 2 was still right here and was very robust,” Brönjemark says. “We had an incredible yr of content material after that and lots of positivity from our players. Now, on the anniversary, we hit just on the proper time with the correct of content material and the correct message for individuals who are searching for nice worth for cash for an expertise that they’ll sink into and get lots of hours of gameplay from.
“There’s part of our playerbase that’s searching for this six-year-old expertise, the place you already know you are going to purchase into one thing that’s going to final, that has a historical past and goes to maintain going for a really very long time. That is what is giving us lots of our constructive curiosity past just our typical fanbase. There aren’t many video games which have lasted so long as we have and aren’t just still going, however are rising, too. That is the place we are at; we’re not just preserving the sport alive after eight years, we are truly doing more. That is the largest yr we have ever deliberate when it comes to content material for The Division 2. We aren’t just still going, we are rising. We are rising in ambition and we are delivering more and more issues. There aren’t many video games within the place we are in now.”
Not free to play
It is common for firms managing long-running video games to regulate or change the enterprise mannequin after some time, usually as a method of attracting new players. You possibly can see that Ubisoft is open to this type of shift; Rainbow Six Siege went free-to-play in 2025, virtually ten years into its existence, though the sport’s aggressive modes are still behind a paywall.
The Large crew says they’ve regarded into going free-to-play, but it surely “by no means made sense.”
“It is very clear that the mannequin we at the moment have works rather well with the present sport,” Banchereau says.
A part of the rationale why The Division 2 hasn’t grow to be free-to-play is that this is able to imply elementary adjustments for the best way the sport is designed. “We are attempting to be a bit protecting of the expertise of our players and the best way we monetise, the best way we do enterprise,” Brönjemark says.
“We are lifelike about how this works and on the finish of the day, for our sport to proceed rising we have to generate income. However we all the time need to ensure that we try this in a respectful manner for our players. Free-to-play would not essentially violate that, however you would wish to adapt and make some adjustments. Thus far, we have not actually seen the necessity to do this.”
In 2021, Ubisoft introduced a brand new free-to-play standalone The Division title referred to as Heartland. The undertaking was being helmed by Crimson Storm, however was finally cancelled after a variety of public exams and some delays.
The Large crew is not in a position to remark a lot on the sport’s cancellation, merely pointing to it being a part of an Ubisoft restructuring effort. (As a part of Ubisoft’s €200 million international financial savings plan, the writer introduced sport improvement would stop at Crimson Storm in March, with the lack of 105 jobs. The agency additionally made layoffs at Large and Ubisoft Stockholm in January.) However they do say that there was collaboration between them and the crew working on Heartland and that there was some affect on The Division 2.
“There have been some classes and collaboration between us when Heartland was in improvement,” Brönjemark says. “All of that contributed to the expansion of The Division 2. The sport did not make it, however there have been still alternatives to study in Division 2.”
One other path that The Division is heading in is cell. Ubisoft lately launched The Division Resurgence, a long-in-development take on the shooter MMO that, in keeping with Brönjemark, has drawn an excessive amount of pleasure from avid gamers who aren’t essentially cell followers at coronary heart.
“That speaks to the power and the fervour of The Division fanbase. That starvation for more Division experiences. We see that loads. Folks are all the time asking for information about it. It is a testomony to the power of our fan base, however they are actually keen to doubtlessly go outdoors of their typical consolation zone to get more Division.”
The Division 3
However maybe the largest push ahead within the sequence is The Division 3, which was introduced in 2023 however at the moment would not have a release date. The crew cannot say a lot concerning the undertaking, besides to say that having two improvement tracks – one for The Division 2 dwell sport and one other for The Division 3 – implies that classes might be learnt throughout initiatives.
The capacity to change data between the 2 groups about “what works and what would not” in a dwell sport places the crew on The Division 3 in a “actually nice place,” explains Banchereau. Brönjemark provides that all the information and experience that is been constructed up over the years on The Division 2 will finally profit The Division 3.
One cloud hanging over The Division 3 is the departure of Julian Gerighty, who left Large for DICE firstly of 2026. Nearly everything of his 12-year stint on the studio was spent on The Division, first as artistic director on The Division and The Division 2, then later as government producer overseeing the entire franchise. Whereas the Large crew says they are going to miss him, they insist his departure is not going to impression work on the following entry within the franchise.
“We are working and executing on the highway map that had been deliberate and secured for a while already,” Brönjemark says. “Julian’s departure is not a distraction. We’re completely satisfied for him and clearly unhappy to see him go. He was a buddy. However so far as The Division 3 goes, we have our future and our roadmap that’s already safe, and we know precisely the place we are going and precisely what we need to do.”
Ten years into The Division’s journey, Banchereau says that he has “zero doubt” that the franchise will still be getting in one other decade. As for a way Ubisoft goes to get there, it is about preserving the viewers candy.
“It’s all about having completely satisfied players and a thriving neighborhood,” he explains. “That’s the major purpose. If we have that, then finally we will be capable of develop the playerbase and have a powerful and thriving neighborhood when The Division 3 releases and continues the expansion from there. That is actually what we see in entrance of us.”
He concludes: “Now we have Resurgence, which shall be an enormous a part of that, we are inviting a brand new viewers as properly to the franchise.”