‘The Division’ Spinoff Was Quietly Canceled by Ubisoft, But That’s Probably A Good Thing

Amid all the excitement around and The Division 2 have maintained core audiences despite strong competition. In the case of the most recent Rainbow Six, the competitive tactical shooter has managed to hang on more than eight years after its infamously messy launch.

Moving forward with another service game would have likely been an unnecessary risk for the company at an already tumultuous time. Last year, Ubisoft scrambled to revive dwindling profits, forging deals with Xbox and canceling seven projects in two years to make up the difference.

Putting out another service game with the lofty expectation that players would be willing to buy more loot, skins, and other add-ons risks cannibalizing the publisher’s own miraculous success, or worse, dooming the extraction shooter to languish in the ocean that the genre has become.

There’s also the matter of franchise fatigue. Heartland was just one of several Division-related projects in the works. There’s the mobile game, The Division Resurgence, and a traditional big-budget sequel that Ubisoft nonchalantly announced last September. There’s even a Division film allegedly in the works starring Jake Gyllenhaal.

Giving the series some time to breathe with one fewer release may do wonders for building hype among fans. It will also give Ubisoft room to focus on other big bets, like its free-to-play Call Of Duty competitor XDefiant, which will launch into preseason on May 21.

Red Storm Entertainment is the latest developer to cancel a live service project amid industry headwinds. Earlier this year, Naughty Dog canceled their multiplayer game based on The Last Of Us franchise. Earlier this month, Remedy Entertainment announced it was moving on from its untitled multiplayer collaboration with Chinese publisher Tencent.

It’s safe to say Ubisoft has more than enough on its plate for the foreseeable future. Any players who were looking forward to Heartland are likely to get their military shooter fill from at least one of Ubisoft’s other upcoming games.