Of all the video game genres out there, live service shooters might be the most difficult to get right. For every success story like Destiny, there seem to be a dozen games in the genre that have faltered. The Division has had its fair share of growing pains since the first game launched back in 2016, but in the years since, the franchise has seen a number of improvements. Now, it's time to shake things up once again.
Since the franchise's inception, players have been exploring locations on the East Coast of the United States, first exploring a post-pandemic New York and then journeying to Washington DC. The two locations were diverse, with New York offering more skyscrapers and densely packed streets than DC's relatively woodsy metropolitan area. While the time on the East Coast has been grand, it's time for The Division to show a different neck of the woods.
New York has always been a staple location for a disaster in contemporary media. There's something about the Big Apple that seems to attract all manner of alien invaders and other types of calamity. In recent years, disasters have been dispersed a bit more evenly, but there still seems to be a bias when it comes to New York. Because of that, it seems like it's time to take things to the West Coast, which could offer starkly different scenery for players to enjoy.
The Best Setting for The Division 3
The West Coast offers a pretty broad selection of major cities to choose from, though the two most likely candidates are Los Angeles and San Francisco, both major cities for not only The United States but the entire world. There are perks for both, and the two cities are as distinct from each other as one could hope to get.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles might be more interesting in the context of The Division's world, though. Part of what makes The Division games worth playing is how they portray dilapidated versions of well-known landmarks. Los Angeles is packed full of landmarks that would transition well into the game's universe, especially locales like Hollywood. Being able to take a stroll down the Walk of Fame would be interesting, especially taking the time to soak in the buildings that come with it.
Of course, Hollywood isn't the only part of Los Angeles worth exploring in such a game. There are also areas like Venice Beach that would make wonderful additions to the setting, or even something like the La Brea Tar Pits, which could introduce a number of interesting mechanics to any of The Division's combat encounters. The city is full of potential for any game, but The Division adapts metropolitan areas so well that it seems like a no-brainer. Not to mention, LA is huge, so it would likely mean a bigger map.
San Francisco
While it might not be as good as a setting as Los Angeles, San Francisco does have some distinct perks. The city is full of landmarks that would make stellar locations for missions, raids, or any other type of content Ubisoft might want to include. The best example is Alcatraz, which would function incredibly well for whatever Ubisoft wanted to do with it.
The only real problem with it is that San Francisco, while starkly different than New York in real life, might not feel as distinct as it needs to when translated to video game format, at least in the context of The Division's world. While the move worked going from Watch Dogs to Watch Dogs 2, The Division's tone is a lot darker, and going that route might end up with a version of San Fran that doesn't feel different enough from what's come before it.
The solution would be a dynamic weather system that captures how rapidly San Francisco can change, which would present a good opportunity to show off bright, sunshine-filled San Francisco, while making things feel darker and gloomier during certain moments or randomly throughout each day cycle. That's a complex system, bet it would make for a more authentic city.
Will The Division 3 Happen?
Right now, The Divsion games are in a bit of a weird place. It's been about two years since The Division 2 released, and Ubisoft was planning on slowing down content output until fan outcry convinced the company to reconsider. Now, fans will be getting new content for The Division 2 throughout the year, though it's unclear what will happen after that.
There's also the question of a free-to-play game that could be launching in the next year or so. Gameplay footage of The Division: Heartlands leaked online, showing what appears to be a Division game in a midwestern setting. That's a grand departure from the city settings fans have seen in the game thus far, though it could ultimately be a good thing. There's been no word on The Division 3, and Heartlands is said to be a free-to-play game, which might mean Ubisoft is prepared to treat it like a side project instead of a sequel.
That might sound like a bad thing for Heartlands, and it's something that very well couldn't be the case, but it seems like Ubisoft would be more direct if it intended it to be a proper sequel. There's really no reason not to call it The Division 3 otherwise. However, it might give Ubisoft an opportunity to make a city setting feel fresh again, which would make it more feasible to go all the way to the West Coast.
It's probably going to be a long time before fans hear anything about a potential The Division 3. E3 would've been the most likely place to announce it in the foreseeable future, but there was no information about The Division games at the show. Plus, Heartlands is likely going to be released before the third entry, so it could potentially be years away. In fact, years away is probably the most likely time frame for The Division 3 if it happens at all.