Briefly: While I’ve only put a few hours into The Division at this point (after paying a cool $11 Canadian for it, which is like $0.50 in Freedom Dollars), I’ve been a big fan of what I experienced so far.
Shane’s also a huge fan of the game, and while we unfortunately play it on different consoles, I know that he’s going to be a YUGE fan of the news that Ubisoft has just revealed.
This week marks The Division‘s one year anniversary, and Ubisoft has revealed some interesting facts about the game’s first year, like just how surprised they were “to see how attached people were to The Division, citing an average playtime of multiple hours per day,” while also detailing some cool bonuses that players are in for this week.
You can get the gist of this week’s bonuses from the image below, but head just below that for the coolest reveal of all.
Creative Director at Massive Entertainment Julian Gerighty, went on to note that “The one-year anniversary is a celebration of everything we’ve done in the first year of the game’s release. But we also want to turn ahead and look at Year 2 and how we’re going to support the game for everyone, for free.”
Yep. New content over a year after the game’s release… for free.
Here are the content details that have been revealed thus far:
That free content for Year 2 is coming in the form of two separate expansions planned for release this year. The first unnamed expansion will be based on an event system that drives players to activities that feature modifiers, leaderboards, and unique vanity items that will only be available through these activities. In addition, Gerighty says the team has plans to include a loadout feature that will let players switch efficiently and quickly between their favorite gear combinations, as well as a system to mark a player’s feats. “[It] will reward players for different activities – long-term activities, short-term activities, and medium-term activities within the game,” Gerighty adds. “Basically, our Division achievements, if you will.”
The second expansion is still far enough away that the team doesn’t want to comment on it, and while Gerighty stresses that it will be “more content-focused”, new story missions won’t necessarily be a part of the package. “Story missions are tricky, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have narrative content,” he says. “We can’t really deliver story missions that will fit into the RPG aspects of the game in a simple way. So we’re not going to be doing the classic main mission type of thing, but narrative content is something that we are definitely looking at.”
I guess I need to get through the game’s vanilla content and year one expansions pretty quickly here. That’s going to be tough with the new Switch currently sitting on my shelf.
You can take a look at Ubisoft’s entire blog post here, but be sure to share your favourite The Division moment below!
Are you still playing the game? Will this bring you back for another run?