Ubisoft has officially announced The Division Resurgence, a free-to-play mobile game that it hinted was in the works last year. The company says it’ll be an open-world, third-person RPG shooter like the mainline games, with single-player and co-op modes that let players face off against the environment in story missions and other “PvE activities.”
Resurgence will take place in the same world as The Division and The Division 2 did, though Ubisoft says its story will be “independent” from the original, offering a “unique perspective on key story events” as well as new characters and weapons. Personally, though, the trailer the company released for Resurgence reminds me a lot of the original 2014 cinematic trailer. It has a lot of the same beats and similar shots, though it does cut out the heartrending story of a family being consumed by illness (which is, you know, probably a good thing).
Ubisoft hasn’t said when the game will come out, though the trailer says it’s coming to Android and iOS devices “soon.” In the meantime, the company is planning to run a closed alpha where selected players will be able to test the game after signing an NDA.
Ubisoft has also said it’s working on another free-to-play game in The Division series called Heartland. Leaked details make it seem like Heartland will be a battle royale game similar to Apex Legends or Fortnite. That game will be on “PC, consoles, and cloud,” according to Ubisoft’s announcement from May 2021, but it’s understandable why the company also wants to make a mobile entry for the franchise. Phone-based games are a huge business, and competitors like EA and Activision Blizzard have been investing heavily in flagship releases bound for mobile platforms.
As we’ve seen with games like Diablo Immortal, though, the space can sometimes have a problem with predatory business models. Ubisoft hasn’t released details about what types of microtransactions Resurgence will have — if it’ll have them at all. Its press release does mention “collecting and upgrading” gear as well as “unique signature weapons and gadgets” that you can swap while playing, which are meant to add some strategy and let players “find the best co-op synergy with fellow Division agents.” (Who among us doesn’t play games for that sweet feeling of synergizing with friends?) It seems possible that system could come with some upcharges; mobile games often use upgrades and gear as an opportunity to charge users, and the original Division included a microtransaction system for cosmetics and skins.
Ubisoft didn’t reply to The Verge’s request for comment on whether Resurgence would include any integration with its Quartz NFT platform or any blockchain component. The company said earlier this year that it’d have more to share on Quartz in the future, though it’s also confirmed that not every game it’s working on will have NFTs.
