Ubisoft has announced that it’s bringing another one of its popular Tom Clancy franchises to mobile devices, this one based on Tom Clancy’s The Division.
The mobile entry in the series is called Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence, and it will be a free-to-play, third-person shooter role-playing game. Ubisoft is calling it a “canon opus,” as the game features a new storyline and different classes from its console/PC-based cousins.
The Division Resurgence will take players back to New York City, the setting for the first game in the series released back in 2016. The game is being “developed and optimized” for iOS and Android, with controls and user interface tuned for mobile platforms.
Ubisoft’s first entry in the “console/PC triple-A multiplayer game being adapted to mobile” trend was Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, a mobile adaptation of the Rainbow Six Siege franchise (minus the “Siege” in the name). Ubisoft, EA, Activision Blizzard, and other publishers have recently made the development of these mobile adaptations a high-priority at the company.
Why? Well revenue, obviously. But it’s apparently also becoming clear that standalone mobile entries from these companies aren’t faring as well. Improved device specs and player expectations set by games like Fortnite and PUBG: Battlegrounds are showing that demand for conventional multiplayer games on mobile is stronger than ever.
The names of popular video game brands aren’t enough, players want modified versions of their gameplay as well. Publishers seem willing to meet that demand, since it lets them take advantage of the monetization methods that make mobile game publishing so lucrative.
It will be worth watching if Ubisoft attempts to make use of loot boxes in monetizing Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence. Lawmakers in Europe have begun to express more and more distaste for randomized digital goods, often comparing the system to gambling.