Those of you waiting for reviews and opinions on The Division before considering buying the game will be waiting a little while longer after release than for your typical blockbuster game. Ubisoft have just released a statement explaining that servers for the game will go live in time for the midnight launch in Australia, and how that is coming to impact when and how the press will be able to review the highly anticipated shooter:
Since it’s impossible for us to populate the servers in a way that would adequately replicate playing The Division on launch day, reviewers will start playing the game along with everyone else when it’s released on March 8 – after the servers go live officially at 00:01AM Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT). We anticipate there may be some impressions posted online within the first few days of launch that were based on experiences with The Division Beta, and we look forward to seeing streams, videos, and opinions that provide accounts of final, in-game conditions.
It’s a similar situation to what we saw with Destiny and its various expansions. These games are, to all intents and purposes, MMOs and so they need to be played online and need to do so on populated servers in order to be able to see the potential interactions that fosters.
Of course, many people will have already seen some of the early content that the game has to offer, thanks to the beta testing that has happened over the last few months, but it means it will be some time after release before reviewers are able to reach the end game content and dish out actual reviews. For those still uncomfortably perched on a fence, we’ll try not to take too long.
They also detail what those who have pre-ordered digitally can expect, in terms of downloading the game early.
Players who have purchased digital copies can begin preloading today for Xbox One; Thursday, March 3 at 6PM CET / 9AM PT for PC (Steam/Uplay); and March 6 at 00:01AM local time on PlayStation 4 – except Japan where it will be available on March 8 at 00:01AM. In the US, digital copies of The Division for Xbox One, PS4, and PC will be active at 12:01AM EST on March 8.
Source: press release, Ubisoft
Starman
Not turning the servers on until the second it releases seems like they’re asking for network issues.
Avenger
They’ve tested extensively with the alpha and two beta tests, and for the most part without any issues. It’d be unlucky if they ran into issues straight away.
Starman
An online only game launching without issues would be a minor miracle these days. I’ll be astonished if it all goes fine.
Avenger
I’ve pretty much made my mind up about the game. It’s something that a review can’t quite flesh out, and is better experienced individually. Nothing can quite describe the possible things that can happen in the Dark Zone.
beeje13
+1 It really is great. Jam packed with content, I was literally spoilt for choice. The recreation of Madison square garden was impressive too.
CR8ZYH0RSE
I got raped everytime i entered The Dark Zone by idiots who killed you as soon as you entered it,never mind waiting for the helicopter.It’s a brilliant game from the time i had on the beta,i started a community for the game for people who want to work as a team without the back stabbing.As for reviews the betas spoke for themselves for me,looking forward to it.
Avenger
Aye, I was quite able to defend myself in the closed beta but when the open one came I got well and truly raided several times. Took a short while to get equipped well and then I could laugh at people’s meager attempts to try and kill me.
Sad Panda
I’ve been slowly going off this game. There appears to be no PVE end game content and I’ve no interest in enforcement of PVP in the Dark Zone. Was going to wait on reviews but right now, I’m thinking about saving some money.
JustTaylorNow
It’s a Ubi game, you know they know that they have the worst track record. The crew was released for reviews so the division is no different. Just an excuse not to get bad reviews
bunimomike
Just out of interest, how do you review an MMO-style game pre-release?
JustTaylorNow
I dunno but they didn’t it for the crew, destiny etc so it’s doable
Avenger
The Crew and Destiny are not quite the same though. Neither of those games depend heavily on the independent play of others, except for maybe the raids in Destiny which actually released post-launch. It’s impossible to give reviewers a realistic experience if one reviewer jumps into the Dark Zone at level 27 only to find just 3 other reviewers on there at the exact same time with the same level requirement. It requires a fairly large pool of players to get anywhere near some of the experiences possible in the dark zone.
However, I can see you’ve been in a no-bullshit mode for the last couple of days which is fair enough.
Forrest_01
Actually, they didn’t – Both the Crew & Destiny were not reviewed before their release date.
If they were, it was based upon a Beta build, which is not a fair review of the game in its final state.
leeroye
Why not, The core of the game can be played on your own, so why cant they review that?
Forrest_01
Because then you get into a horrible situation where you are posting 2/3 reviews for one damn game (1x single player, 1x co-op, 1x multiplayer). I don’t want to read all that – I want to know what it’s like as a package.
As far as I am aware as well, this is built around team play (much like Destiny), so it isn’t really fair to review it as a single player game.
As an example, Destiny would not review well as a single player experience. As a team game though, it shines.
Avenger
Yeah, as Forrest says, you’d have multiple reviews for the game and people likely would be all over the place with opinions. I remember I watched a video review of Destiny but they couldn’t cover the raids because it had to be patched in for, and for some people raids was what made that game. Leaving out certain bits of the game wouldn’t do it justice, and for sure this IS an MMO-style game. There’s not going to be bucket loads for those interested in a linear single-player game.