The Division Resurgence, Ubisoft's shooter mobile game, plans for a wider release including a launch in China, as Tencent looks to push more Ubisoft IPs in the country. Read on to learn about the situation and Tencent's mobile game endeavors.
The Division Resurgence Mobile Game Expands to China
The Division Resurgence Open Now for Pre-Registration
On February 1, Ubisoft announced that its upcoming free-to-play shooter mobile game, Tom Clancy's The Division Resurgence, will include a release in China. "We are also very pleased to let you know that the game has been approved for distribution in China and, in the light of the very positive results of the game’s latest live test, we are now planning for a much wider release later this year," read The Division Resurgence Team's official statement.
The game is currently open for pre-registrations on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for players to get a chance to play in the Closed-Beta phase before the full release.
Ubisoft stated on its website, "Our focus is now to make sure that the game is available for as many players as possible at launch and keep expanding on the solid experience you have been able to play so far."
The Division Resurgence was officially announced in 2022 by Ubisoft. The game takes place in the "crisis-ravaged streets" of New York City, and playable solo or in co-op, with new class roles as players face off against enemy factions. The game will bring a new, canonical storyline to The Division universe, as well as "a new perspective on key story events" from The Division and The Division 2.
Tencent and Ubisoft Partner to Distribute IPs in China
Previous reports indicated that Tencent's subsidiary Level Infinite has been involved in the development of The Division Resurgence, following Ubisoft's partnership with Tencent in 2021 that granted Tencent exclusive agency for The Division 2 in China which, at the time, was said to land on Tencent's gaming platform, WeGame.
Similarly, it was reported in 2022 that Tencent is "likely to help" Ubisoft introduce franchises such as Tom Clancy's The Division and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege to China, in light of reports on Tencent doubling its stake-holding in Ubisoft.
"The plan then and still is to cooperate on mobile games using Ubisoft IP and to bring key Ubisoft PC games to China," Ball Metaverse Research Partners Director of Research, Matthew Kanterman, told Bloomberg in a 2022 report, "If and when the regulatory environment improves and we start to see approvals for foreign games again, these popular global franchises could stand out in an increasingly saturated and mature China online games market."
As regulatory constraints on China's domestic gaming market gradually eased following the country's 32-month-long crackdown on major tech firms in late 2020, 87 new video games, including Ubisoft's The Division franchise, were reported to be licensed and approved for distribution in China in December 2023.
Tencent found success in the mobile gaming platform, with its most profitable mobile game to date, 2018's "PUBG Mobile," from South Korea-based KRAFTON's IP, and 2020's "League of Legends: Wild Rift" from subsidiary Riot Games. However, the company has since then struggled to replicate the success of its biggest hits. Tencent reportedly canceled an unannounced NieR mobile game following its current struggle in the gaming business sector, with CEO Pony Ma declaring that they have "achieved nothing" as of late.
Source:
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