The Division belongs that category of games that seems to suffer at launch, but through constant post-launch support, gradually wins its fans over. Given how Ubisoft have turned around the fortunes of their shared-world shooter with its post-launch content and updates, many people have wondered why they’re choosing to make a sequel rather than keep heading in this direction.
While Ubisoft have addressed this in the past, David Polfeldt, the managing director of developers Ubisoft Massive, has tackled the question again, saying that he feels that The Division 2 provides more of an alternative path for some people rather than a replacement, and that both Division games can be satisfactorily supported by Ubisoft going forward.
“It’s been three years between The Division and Division 2,” Polfeldt said while speaking with Games Industry. “I think there’s a lot of interest in trying a similar type of mechanic but in a new way. I’m pretty sure people are curious about the new one. Part of me thinks maybe The Division should remain live and The Division 2 is an alternative path for some people. I don’t know what will happen, I think we need to remain very open-minded about that.”
Personally, I think that’s a noble idea, what it just seem logistically possible. Obviously Ubisoft will be focusing most of their energies on supporting The Division 2 with its post launch content in terms of raids and other content updates, which they’re detailed quite thoroughly already. In light of that, it seems a little impractical to expect them to keep releasing meaningful updates, or really anything beyond the most cursory patches, for the first Division.
The Division 2 launches on March 15, 2019, for the Xbox One, PS4, and PC.