Geek Interview: The Division Resurgence Is Ubisoft’s Biggest Mobile Gamble

Sequels tend to do better in the video game space, as players are familiar with a particular series and can count on a solid foundation when it comes to gameplay. For Ubisoft‘s The Division franchise, players have been fighting the chaos of a pandemic since 2016, and now, the action-shooter RPG experience is making a jump to mobile with The Division Resurgence. It is a risky move, especially with the reputation of mobile gaming, but for the developers, it made the perfect sense.

“The core concept of The Division Resurgence was so we could bring the Division universe to a large audience. Mobile gaming is the best vehicle for that. In developing The Division Resurgence, we took a lot of time and care to tailor a game fit for a mobile device, while remaining faithful to the Division universe,” said Executive Producer Fabrice Navrez.

That faithfulness comes in the fleshing out of the lore that has been established both in The Division as well as The Division 2. While it remains canon, this mobile offshoot will also contain its own unique narrative, and help newcomers dip their toes into the world, essentially catering to both veterans and newer players.

At its core, The Division Resurgence tries to keep everything fans love about the mainline series intact in an on-the-go interpretation, and based on what we know, there is some promise there.

That gameplay loop of intense combat, gathering improved loot, and adapting strategies for specific challenges while leveraging team synergy remains, with “the overall pace of the game” adapted “to make sure the game is flexible to offer quicker or longer game sessions.” The cover system is there, various enemy types from the new Freemen faction will force you to be agile, and players can partake in story missions, side activities, and even world activities solo or in groups.

Even the PvE-focused Dark Zone will be making an appearance, albeit in a slightly tweaked form. Competitive players can look to the Skirmish and Domination modes to test their mettle.

Having already experienced the breadth of options and gameplay solutions on both the PC and console versions, it might be hard to picture all of those complexity being translated into a mobile experience. It is a legitimate worry, and one that Ubisoft is keen to address in The Division Resurgence.

“Making sure the controls are very good on touch devices is one the main challenge we had. For example, we spent a lot of time designing and developing solid controls for the cover system,” Navrez shared. “That aspect is key to The Division experience. We are very happy with the results and we will give several options to the player to customize their own playstyle.”

That includes the option to switch loadouts and gear on the fly, which was not possible in the base game, a step that ensures “more flexibility” for the players, and encourages more experimentation. However, considering that shooting accurately is probably the most important part of the game, the jury’s still out on how this works on mobile.

While there is certainly some promise to The Division Resurgence, nothing is going to beat having your actual hands on the game. A Closed Alpha will happen soon for both iOS and Android platforms, and eager Agents can sign up now to join this new fight. We can also expect even more updates from Ubisoft in the coming months.