Highlights
- The Division 3 is confirmed to be in active development and will be released after The Division Heartland, with separate areas of focus in design.
- The Division Heartland, developed by Red Storm Entertainment, needs to set itself apart to have staying power, as it's now under the shadow of The Division 3 and faces competition from other extraction shooter games.
- The success of The Division Heartland will depend on finding its identity as an extraction shooter staple, while The Division 3's release can act as a boon to its playerbase and provide a robust gameplay experience.
A recent Ubisoft press release confirmed the active development of The Division 3, slotted to come out at some point after The Division Heartland, which still has its tentative release window in 2023. From what has been shown of the latter, the two games are being developed with separate areas of focus in design, able to coexist harmoniously, with the outing from Red Storm Entertainment having the potential to be far more than a holdover between main entries in The Division.
The Division fan base had mixed reactions to the initial announcement of The Division Heartland. A more PvPvE-centric entry in the franchise with shades of the beloved Survival game mode from The Division, it marks Red Storm Entertainment's first chance to take the lead on a project based in the world after aiding Massive Entertainment's development of the first two. The drastic setting shift from urban to rural paired with its leaning into the Dark Zone's gameplay loop could prove a winning formula, but with the extraction shooter trend hinting at a fever pitch and now under the shadow of The Division 3, The Division Heartland will need to set itself apart for any chance at staying power.
The Division 3 Does Not Have to Usurp Heartland
Despite the lack of concrete information, there is plenty to draw from in guessing what shape The Division 3 will take. More than likely set in an American metropolis, maybe Chicago or Los Angeles this time around, the game will have its players take the role of SHD sleeper agents to pick up the wreckage of a societal collapse following a bioterrorism attack. Given the partition of the former game's PvPvE elements honed into The Division Heartland, it is not wild to assume The Division 3 will prioritize its narrative and endgame PvE. Though unlikely, it is entirely possible that it foregoes the Dark Zone entirely, coexisting with The Division Heartland to provide players with more robust versions of both gameplay styles.
Two years after the release of The Division 2, there was some consternation from fans reacting to the 2021 announcement of The Division Heartland, with its timing suggesting the offshoot title would mark a change in direction for the franchise. At that point, the forecast for The Division 3 was nebulous and the fear with The Division Heartland was that Ubisoft might have shelved it in favor of chasing trends. The anxiety was compounded by Massive Entertainment's slate seemingly full with Star Wars Outlaws and its presumptive sequels. Now officially revealed, The Division 3 lessens the scrutiny that The Division Heartland has faced, allowing it to exist as a genre experiment that will not have to bear the weight of being a mainline entry.
The Division Heartland's Success Will Hinge on Finding Its Identity
The Division 3 is years off, with the lack of an accessible platform announcement placing its release as far as 2028. If that is the case, and players will be waiting until the next console generation to get their hands on the game, The Division Heartland is likely a strategic placeholder for the franchise as its main developer takes its hiatus to a galaxy far, far away. There is potential there, though, for The Division Heartland to remain relevant up through The Division 3's release window, allowing the two titles to synergize. It all boils down to how Red Storm Entertainment can execute.
In an ideal scenario, The Division Heartland would establish itself as an extraction shooter staple, tapping into the formula that has kept players coming back to games like Escape From Tarkov and Hunt: Showdown over the years. If it can succeed in that, The Division 3's release can act as a boon to its playerbase instead of simply replacing it as the newest The Division title. Giving the best of its high-stakes apocalyptic narrative and cutthroat PvPvE across two fronts could be the perfect ecosystem for fans of The Division.
The Division 3 is in development.