Fans of Massive Entertainment’sTom Clancy’s The Division 2who’ve been holding out hope for a version of the popular cover shooter designed specifically for next-gen consoles may be out of luck, with the developer revealing that in a recent interview that such a release is “unlikely” to happen. Following a series of technical problems that pushed back the original release date by several weeks, the unique looter shooter recently received an injection of new content with the launch ofThe Division 2Season 11late last month.
Released for PC and consoles in 2019,Tom Clancy’s The Division 2sees the sequel move its cover-based co-op action from the Big Apple to a chaotic Washington D.C. still reeling from the effects of the Dollar Flu plague unleashed before the first game. While the franchise got off to a rocky start with the release of 2016’s innovative but ultimately flawedTom Clancy’s The Division, the sequel managed to find a dedicated audience thanks in large part to an improved gameplay loop and unique unlockables that incentivize players to return to the looter shooter again and again. The Year 5 roadmap for the popular title was revealed at Ubisoft’s Division Day earlier this month along with new details about thefree-to-play spinoffThe Division Heartland.
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In an excerpt from a new interview with gaming site MP1st,The Division 2creative director Yannick Banchereau threw cold water on the idea of releasing a version of the popular looter shooter specifically for next-gen consoles. In response to a question about a version ofThe Division 2built from the ground up for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, Banchereau stated that it’s “unlikely to happen” because “taking full advantage of those would mean the game would no longer be available on the old generations.” Banchereau stresses that the studio made this decision to avoid fragmenting the player base by cutting off players using older hardware, adding that it is “not ready to leave them behind and ask them to upgrade.”
Although this news is sure to disappoint fans hoping for a version ofThe Division 2that takes full advantage of next-gen consoles, it’s understandable that Massive Entertainment would want to avoid alienating a large percentage of the game’s playerbase by removing support for older hardware. With the numerous problems experienced by players ofThe Division 2on Steamfollowing the game’s launch on that platform earlier this year, Massive may also be hoping to avoid the numerous technical headaches that would be sure to come along with releasing an entirely new version of the game.
Luckily for players ofThe Division 2on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, they can still take advantage of higher framerates and resolutions compared to older consoles. But with a next-gen version seemingly off the table and recent rumors indicating thatThe Division 3isn’t in the works at Ubisoft, fans of the franchise may have a long wait before it fully embraces modern consoles.
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2is now available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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