The Division 3 Reportedly Entering Development Soon
Ubisoft is ramping up to work on The Division 3.
A well-regarded Ubisoft insider has shared that The Division 3 is preparing to enter full production soon. At this point in time, it has been well over five years since the launch of The Division 2. Since that time, Ubisoft has continued to steadily update the latest entry in its popular third-person shooter series with new content. Naturally, though, some fans have started to wonder whether or not a new installment would come about. In the back half of 2023, Ubisoft confirmed that The Division 3 would indeed be happening, but now, we have a better idea of the game's prospective timeline.
According to reporter Tom Henderson, The Division 3 won't formally go into production until Ubisoft first ships Star Wars Outlaws in August. For those unaware, Outlaws and The Division 3 are both set to be developed by Ubisoft studio Massive Entertainment. As such, the implication here from Henderson is that The Division 3 has been in pre-production while Star Wars Outlaws has remained the primary focus of the developer. Once Outlaws is let loose, though, Massive will then begin dedicating more resources to its next Division game.
The disappointing part of this news from Henderson is that it suggests a release for The Division 3 is still quite far off. Even if the highly anticipated sequel does enter production later this year, AAA game development timelines continue to lengthen. As a result, this means that The Division 3 likely won't arrive until 2026 at the absolute earliest, although a release after this year seems far more likely.
Prior to The Division 3 being released, Ubisoft had at one point planned to launch a free-to-play spin-off titled The Division Heartland. However, work on this project was scrapped this past month so that Ubisoft could allocate those development resources to other games. As a result, The Division 2 remains the only active title in this series at this point outside of The Division Resurgence, which is a mobile spin-off that is in the works. News on The Division Resurgence has been slim in recent months but the title is broadly slated to release in 2024.
