Ubisoft's The Division Delayed (Again)

[Steven Bogos]

Ubisoft's The Division Delayed (Again)

The Division has suffered another delay, and won't be releasing this year.

Ubisoft doesn't have a great history with game delays. First, there was the saga of 2015 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128707-Watch-Dogs-Delayed-to-2014], has been hit with another delay. Ubisoft today stated that the game has been pushed back to an early 2016 release.

Ubisoft says the game will arrive the fourth quarter of financial year 2015 (which is actually January to March 2016). Still on track for this year is the just-revealed Assassin's Creed Syndicate [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140769-Assassins-Creed-Syndicate-Officially-Revealed] on October 23, Just Dance, and Rainbow Six Siege (launching in the holiday quarter). Ubisoft also stated that another yet-to-be-announced game would be revealed before the end of the year.

The Division, an open-world, post-apocalyptic multiplayer shooter from the mind of Tom Clancy, was originally announced a "next-gen" (PS4 and Xbox One) exclusive, but after some overwhelming fan feedback [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127007-Tom-Clancys-The-Division-Confirmed-For-PC], a PC version was also announced.

We haven't really heard anything about The Division since... well, the first time it was delayed, so this additional delay, while disappointing, shouldn't be too big of a surprise.

Hopefully, unlike Watch_Dogs, it will be worth the wait this time.

Source: Ubisoft [https://www.ubisoftgroup.com/comsite_common/en-US/images/57ubisoft%20fy15%20slides%20conf%20call%20finaltcm99202531.pdf]

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[Sniper Team 4]

Tch. Fine. I didn't want to play it anyway...

Okay, that's a lie. I did want to play it. It looked fun, if I could get a good group of friends to play with me. But now, I'm pretty much losing all interest I had in this game. Delays suck.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Hopefully, unlike Watch_Dogs, it will be worth the wait this time.

Come on Steven. We all know it wont be. Between Watch_Dogs, Destiny, Assassin's Creed Unity, Evolve...
There truly is no reason to trust that these developers care anymore.

 

[RJ 17]

Hopefully, unlike Watch_Dogs, it will be worth the wait this time.

Come on Steven. We all know it wont be. Between Watch_Dogs, Destiny, Assassin's Creed Unity, Evolve...
There truly is no reason to trust that these developers care anymore.

Beyond that...this is Ubisoft we're talking about. This is the company that touted the fact that AC: Unity was made by 10 different studios as though it were a selling point and not...you know...a giant red flag saying that it was going to be a clusterfuck of disappointment and game-breaking bugs.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Yay! I get to be the guy who says "I forgot this was a thing"

Because I truly did. I'm lucky I still remember my name from the mental blow of no Silent Hills.

Frankly, this was an interesting idea when I saw it years ago. It's still an idea without any semblance for solidity. After a lot more worthy titles in my eye got cancelled, I'll just put this back into an idea and forget it once again.

 

[RealRT]

They are waiting for people to forget what the graphics looked like in the trailers.

 

[Rad Party God]

Because Assasins Creed ain't needin' dem stinkin' delays!

 

[Areloch]

Because Assasins Creed ain't needin' dem stinkin' delays!

Sure, but 2 years of delays isn't "polishing bugs". 2 years is most of a AAA dev cycle. That means they've probably been tossing out or redoing large chunks of the game. Which tends to not be a good thing.

 

[Smiley Face]

I'm not a very cynical person, but I really have very little faith in Ubisoft at this point. Watch_Dogs was soulless and Unity was a mess of bugs. I never got Far Cry 4, so I can't speak to its being good or bad, but my impression was basically it was Far Cry 3 with just enough tweaks to look different at first blush. I fully expect the Division to be a horrible mess, I'm really not surprised that they've pushed it back; this feels a lot like what happened with Watch_Dogs - promising gameplay footage and premise, long delays, and we'll probably get another case of too many cooks, no cohesive vision, and a mess of other problems that all come together to make a disappointment of a game.

It's really impressive that they did this in such a short time - Black Flag was great, Far Cry 3 was a surprise, quite an improvement on its predecessor, Splinter Cell multiplayer was a lot of fun. Now they've thrown that away. Well done them.

I could be wrong, I hope I'm wrong, but at this point I have very little reason to be optimistic.

 

[Sould1n]

Here's a funny story for you all. My older brother has himself a PS4, and due to his PS3 breaking (as well as not using his Wii much outside of co-op games with his girlfriend), it's currently the only console he has at his house. As such, when it comes to Birthday/Christmas presents, my thoughts turned to getting him a PS4 game.

I knew he wanted Batman: Arkham Knight, but given it releases in the Summer, I know he'd not be able to wait long enough and would get it himself. Another game I knew he wanted though was Uncharted 4... and that game got delayed. So I went over and asked him if there was any other games he wanted for his Birthday/Christmas.

He said, 'The Division'.

So... of the games I know he wants on his PS4, that leaves me with the option of Metal Gear Solid V... and possibly the Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year edition to stop him from hogging my Xbox One to play it. Now I've just got to debate this over with everyone else over who'll be getting him the games and who'll have to go for all the more expensive gifts he'd like.

 

[Aerosteam]

Delays can either be a good thing or a bad thing. Although it can show signs of polishing up (The Witcher 3) it also doesn't mean the game is going to be as good as expected (Watch_Dogs).

This is Ubisoft we're talking about here, of course this particular delay is a bad sign considering a good gameplay bit for this, albeit extremely scripted, was shown in 2013.

 

[JemothSkarii]

When I first saw this game I was excited, when I heard it was a co-op squad style shooter with open world stuff I was REALLY excited. Then I learned it was always online and had no A.I bots you could run around with and my excitement fell. Couple that with disappointment from Ubisoft's last few releases (made worse by AC4 being decent) and I've basically lost all interest in this.

Hell, I even enjoyed EndWar dammit.

 

[alj]

Looks like they need an extra year to add in all the bugs and downgrade the PC version to match the consoles , it would not be an ubi game without all that.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I can only imagine the waves of panic that swept through the upper offices of Ubisoft in the wake of Watchdogs and Assasin's Creed Unity's releases. That creeping dread as it dawned on them that yes, people did notice and they most certainly cared that the game looked nothing like those pre-rendered trailers they spent millions on for E3.

Well their loss is our win, if four developers and over a year's delays is anything to go by, I hope the Division turn outs to be good.

 

[XenoScifi]

I am shocked that a preorder deal was not introduced along with this delay giving all who give a fuck about this publisher and this title something to garbage their money away. Pity.

 

[circularlogic88]

Mmmm...dem vertical slices.

Can't wait to see the Ubi PR spins on how most people can't even tell the differences between 720p/30fps and 1080p/60fps. Better yet, how 30fps provides their players a more cinematic experience.

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

I'm still mad Rainbow Six Patriots was dropped and we are getting Siege instaid, but this one did look interesting but as soon as I saw this article Red Flags started waving in my head. I also forgot it existed until now even though it did look good.

 

[Randomvirus]

Oh boy, can't wait to play a two-year-delayed launch title .

Yeah, launch title. Games that come out in that first year of a console don't really break that launch title mold. So, great, a really old launch title got delayed, by a really bad developer / publisher.