Tom Clancy's The Division series of games has slowly but steadily been growing over the years after the spike in popularity due to the launch of the first title, which offered a unique setting and interesting gameplay mechanics. Then, The Division 2 came along, and it tried to improve various aspects of its predecessor in order to have a smoother flow that was equally compelling, with an example being that the first game's movement was made slower and more realistic to provide a better feeling while repositioning. Today, a new game in the series was announced, by the name of The Division Resurgence, with it being a mobile title that's going to be free to play.
The Division Resurgence has a lot to live up to and a lot to improve, seeing that both The Division and The Division 2 had their many highs as well as some major lows. Of course, the final product is not going to be fully comparable to existing releases simply because the platform is different, and so probably will be the target audience. With The Division Resurgence being free and it being a mobile game, many fans couldn't help but call this a red flag, something that becomes understandable now more than ever after the controversies surrounding Diablo Immortal, the latest free-to-play mobile game from Blizzard.
The Division Resurgence Should Learn From Diablo Immortal
The trailer for The Division Resurgence didn't show or talk about anything regarding microtransactions and monetization in general, which is worrisome after the debacle of Diablo Immortal, which looked great on paper and then became the lowest-rated game on Metacritic. The main issue with Diablo Immortal is that it has a monetization system that has been repeatedly called predatory, as it plays out like loot boxes, a practice that Blizzard has been criticized for before. Players can get several items at a time, but the chances of those items being good are so slim that it took Quin69 nearly $16,000 to get a single 5-star gem when, instead, a given character would eventually need multiple of them to be fully geared.
As such, Ubisoft should be as clear and transparent as possible in the coming weeks before hyping up a game that could not live to the players' standards and expectations if monetized poorly. Because The Division Resurgence is completely free, it's very likely that it will have some form of microtransactions to advance in the game and get better gear, but it should avoid things like loot boxes with random items and paid endgame activities. The endgame experience in both PvP and PvE is likely going to be quite different as well in this new mobile game, and it's possible that timed challenges and Dark Zones will make a comeback.
Because of this, The Division Resurgence should focus more on cosmetic items for its monetization system, going no further than occasional power-ups or one-time bundles, leaving gear out of the equation. Farming for better gear is the core value of looter shooters like The Division, and having paywalls that make the free-to-play experience much slower and unsatisfying would damage The Division Resurgence more than do good.
Ultimately, Diablo Immortal's earnings have also shown that it still doesn't fit among the top hitters of the mobile league, meaning that going the same route for this new The Division game would be a bad move for the franchise. The farther Ubisoft strays from the model that Blizzard had in mind for Diablo Immortal, the better.
The Division Resurgence is in development for Android and iOS.