THE DIVISION

FASTLANE

Tom Clancy's The Division is an online-only action role-playing video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft, with assistance from Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft Annecy, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It was announced during Ubisoft's E3 2013 press conference, and was released worldwide on 8 March 2016. It is set in a near future New York City in the aftermath of a smallpox pandemic; the player, who is a Special Agent of the eponymous Strategic Homeland Division, commonly referred to as simply "The Division", is tasked with helping the group rebuild its operations in Manhattan, investigate the nature of the outbreak, and combating criminal activity in its wake. The Division is structured with elements of role-playing games, as well as collaborative and player versus player online multiplayer.

The game received generally positive reviews, and was a commercial success, with Ubisoft stating that the game broke the company's record for highest number of first-day sales. Furthermore, one week after the game's release, Ubisoft stated that The Division was the company's best-selling game, and the industry's biggest first-week launch for a new game franchise, which generated an estimated amount of $330 million globally

Tom Clancy's The Division

Developer(s)	Massive Entertainment^[a]
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Director(s)	Magnus Jansén Julian Gerighty Ryan Barnard
Producer(s)	Petter Sydow
Designer(s)	Matthias Karlson
Composer(s)	Ola Strandh^[1]
Series	Tom Clancy's
Engine	Snowdrop
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One
Release	WW: 8 March 2016^[2]
Genre(s)	Action role-playing, survival
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

DETAILS OFGAME

Tom Clancy's The Division was originally being developed as an eighth generation consoles exclusive.^[8] Shortly after the game's unveiling, Ubisoft stated that other platforms were not ruled out.^[9] Ubisoft asked PC gamers to show interest in the game by signing petitions, and then they would decide. The new intellectual property and tech has been in development for several years although development on the actual game began in early 2013.^[10]^[11]

During E3 2013, the game was officially announced,^[12]^[13] with a trailer explaining the results of Operation Dark Winter and the purpose of Directive 51. During the Expo, Ubisoft announced a companion app that allows players to play the game on tablets. Players are able to join in the game as a drone to offer tactical support for players playing on PC and consoles.^[14] On 20 August 2013, Ubisoft announced that the game would be released for PC on Microsoft Windows as a result of the "vocal and passionate PC community."^[15] On 7 February 2014, Ubisoft announced that Ubisoft Reflections was co-developing the game and was responsible for developing the map-design, character-design and the online components of the game.^[16] Red Storm Entertainment, a subsidiary of Ubisoft that was co-founded by Tom Clancy, was also working on the weapon-design of the game.^[17] Ubisoft Annecy was also announced to be one of the co-developers of the game on 8 May 2015.^[18]

On 15 May 2014, it was announced that The Division would be delayed until 2015, according to an anonymous source inside Massive Entertainment studio. The Division uses Ubisoft's new proprietary engine known as Snowdrop, which is made for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.^[19] On 9 June 2014, The Division was showcased at E3 2014 with an anticipated release for late 2015.^[20] In February 2016, Ubisoft announced that downloadable content for The Division would be timed exclusives for Xbox One.^[21]

During E3 2015, the game's final release date and a player versus player area known as the Dark Zone were revealed.^[22] Its companion app was cancelled, as the company considered that the addition of drones will bring unfairness to the competitive multiplayer mode of the game.^[23] Unlike the previous E3 demo, Long Island, and Staten Island do not appear in the game at launch, while Brooklyn only appears in the opening hours of the game as the tutorial area. The beta was set to be released for the Xbox One in December 2015 and for Windows and PlayStation 4 in 2016.^[24] On 7 December 2015, Ubisoft announced that The Division's beta would be moved to "early 2016" and that an Xbox One exclusive alpha would begin on 9 December 2015.

On 26 January 2016, it was confirmed that the closed Beta would begin on 28 January 2016 for Xbox One and 29 January 2016 for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows,^[25] and end, for all platforms, on 1 February 2016. On 31 January 2016, Ubisoft announced that they had extended the beta, and that it would end on 2 February 2016.^[26]

On 9 February 2016, Ubisoft announced that The Division's open beta would begin for Xbox One on 18 February 2016, and for PC and PlayStation 4 on 19 February 2016, and would end for all platforms on 22 February 2016.^[27] Over 6.4 million players, across all platforms, participated in the open beta. On 27 February 2016, Ubisoft confirmed that there would be no microtransactions at launch. The Division was released on 8 March 2016, two years after its initially planned release.^[28]

There was a promotional short film released on Amazon prime titled The Division: Agent Origins