What you need to know
- The Division is a third-person shooter franchise developed by Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment studio.
- Ubisoft confirms that The Division 3 is on the way.
- Julian Gerighty, creative director of Star Wars Outlaws, has been promoted to executive producer for The Division brand.
Who needs showcases for announcements?
Ubisoft shared on Thursday that Tom Clancy's The Division 3 is on the way, with the development team at Massive Entertainment being assembled while the studio is also continuing to support The Division 2.
In addition to the game announcement, Ubisoft revealed that The Division franchise will now be helmed by Julian Gerighty, the creative director of Star Wars Outlaws, another game in development at Massive Entertainment and currently slated to launch at some point in 2024.
Gerighty's attention will be focused on The Division 3 once Star Wars Outlaws has shipped, per Ubisoft. The franchise lead wants to maintain the series' quality, while also pushing forward in different ways.
"We may have over 40 million players, but The Division is still in its early years as a franchise. There are so many incredible stories to tell, places to explore and people to protect,“ he says.
In addition to The Division 3 and Star Wars Outlaws, Massive Entertainment is currently in the final stages of developing Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which is scheduled to arrive on Dec. 7, 2023 on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5.
Analysis: All hail Massive Entertainment
Massive Entertainment is a load-bearing wall for Ubisoft right now. The team is currently planning to put out two massive games within the same 12-month period, and is starting work on The Division 3 as well. As long as the quality is there for these games to be hits, it'll be hugely beneficial for the publisher, as it's struggled to find new hits over the past couple of years.
That said, I definitely don't expect this game to arrive anytime soon. The most optimistic outlook would be late 2026, and even that seems too quick given how long AAA game development takes these days.
