During the latest Ubisoft financial briefing the publisher confirmed that it is aiming to release The Division 2 before April 2019. While this was good news for fans eager to play the follow-up to 2016's connected, third-person shooter, many others raised concerns that the game may launch during a crowded window. The release window announcement means that The Division 2 will go toe-to-toe with Anthem, the connected shooter from EA and BioWare that was recently pushed to early next year.

While the two games are remarkably different in terms of tone and setting (The Division 2 is a militaristic shooter, while Anthem is a sci-fi title with mechs), the core selling points of both games are the same. Both are big on exploration, for example, both are big on getting players to work together to take down foes and both series' will emphasize live services that keep people playing long after the titles have launched. With this in mind, it's quite reasonable for people to wonder whether there is room for these hotly anticipated shooters to co-exist.

The Division 2 development two years

Judging the comments on social media it seems as though The Division 2 is being tipped as the favorite - but only just. The technical issues that impacted the launch of the first title are no secret and developer Massive Entertainment was also forced to make significant quality of life changes to its game months after it had released. But the developer may well have learned from that, allowing it to deliver the experience that fans are expecting the first time around. The fact that The Division is now an established property with a tuned in fanbase also gives the game the edge.

Meanwhile, although there is significant hype around Anthem, people seem to be a lot more wary of what BioWare is doing. The developer was heavily slated for Mass Effect: Andromeda, with that game's graphics (specifically its facial animations) and its narrative content being criticized. Fans were also disappointed by the lack of post-launch DLC which came as a direct result of the game's poor critical and sales performance. Anthem could be the game that gets the BioWare brand back on track but it will have a lot of work to do so.

BioWare Mass Effect failure Anthem

Moreover, Anthem's live services will not be available at launch. At this stage it is unclear exactly what sort of live services The Division 2 will offer, but if there are live events from the get-go, this will give players more of a reason to play and enthuse (and therefore purchase) the game over its competitor. This could potentially hinder Anthem's momentum before the new IP gets going.

There are many details to be ironed out about both games and specific release dates have not been announced and so some may argue that it's a bit presumptuous to suggest that either game will hinder the other, or that they cannot co-exist. But it's right for fans to be wary. Between October-November 2016, three major first-person shooters were released: Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and Titanfall 2. Battlefield 1 was a huge success, so much so that it cannibalized Titanfall 2's sales and left the future of that series in jeopardy, while Infinite Warfare also suffered heavily.

Fans of The Division 2 and Anthem will want both games to thrive and have the best chance possible at being successful, without being stifled by the competition that the other poses. Players also won't want the fanbases and their friend groups to be split between the games but unfortunately, with the games set to launch so closely together, that may well happen.

Anthem is set to be released in early 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

The Division 2 is tentatively planned for release in Ubisoft’s fiscal year 2019, between now and March 2019.