Tom Clancy's The Division is an online action role-playing video game released in 2016. It was created by Massive Entertainment and released by Ubisoft. The game came out on March 8 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It takes place in a near-future New York City after a virus outbreak. Players take on the role of a Special Agent from the Strategic Homeland Division. Their mission is to help rebuild operations in Manhattan, investigate the cause of the outbreak, and stop criminals taking advantage of the chaos. The game includes parts of role-playing games, as well as cooperative play and online battles between players. This game was the first to use Massive and Ubisoft's Snowdrop game engine.
Tom Clancy's The Division received mostly good reviews from critics. A follow-up game was released in March 2019.
Gameplay
Tom Clancy's The Division is an action role-playing game set in an open world version of Manhattan during a crisis. Players can explore the environment, which includes places that can be broken or destroyed. The player's goal is to help restore order by finding the source of a virus. The player character can carry three weapons and use explosives, such as sticky bombs and seeker mines, to fight enemies. During battles, players can hide behind objects to avoid damage and gain a tactical advantage. The game is viewed from a third-person perspective, showing the player character from the side or behind.
As players complete tasks, they earn experience points (XP) and currency. These can be used to buy weapons, gear, or learn new abilities. Player gear is divided into seven categories: worn, standard, specialized, superior, high-end, gear set items, or rare exotic items. Each category has a specific color code. Gear can be purchased, found as loot in the game, or crafted using collected materials. The game's storyline missions are connected to three wings of the Base of Operations, which acts as the player's home base. The wings are Medical, Security, and Tech. Completing missions for a wing earns points that can be used to unlock new abilities, perks, or facilities in the Base of Operations. At certain points in the game, players receive intel videos from each wing's leader. These videos provide information specific to each wing: the Medical wing shares reports about the virus, the Security wing explains enemy groups, and the Tech wing shows camera footage.
The game includes a weather system that changes over time and can affect gameplay. For example, storms may reduce visibility and make it harder to aim. The game also has a day-night cycle that changes how enemies behave.
The Dark Zone is a competitive multiplayer mode where players fight each other. This area is separate from the main story and has its own system for earning rewards. High-quality weapons are often left behind by military forces in this area. Players can find these items, but they are marked as "contaminated." Contaminated items can be stolen by other players and must be taken out of the Dark Zone by helicopter to keep them. Players can team up with others or neutral agents, but these allies might suddenly turn against the player. If a player dies too many times in the Dark Zone, their level or rank may decrease.
Plot
On Black Friday 2015, a virus similar to smallpox was spread through banknotes, causing a disease called "Green Poison" or the "Dollar Flu." The illness quickly spread through New York City, leading to chaos. Major cities across the United States were placed under quarantine to stop the disease from spreading further. To restore order, the United States government activated sleeper agents—people who had been trained in secret and were waiting to be called into action. These agents worked for the Strategic Homeland Division (SHD), helping a team called the Joint Task Force (JTF), which included police, firefighters, the National Guard, and volunteers. However, the first group of agents sent to New York City failed to complete their mission, so a second group was sent instead.
The second group included the main character, an Agent, and a fellow agent named Faye Lau. They were preparing to travel to Manhattan when their plane was destroyed in an explosion, killing the SHD leader and most of the second wave, and seriously injuring Faye Lau. Instead, the Agent traveled to Manhattan by helicopter and took over the James A. Farley Building as their base of operations. From there, the Agent worked to rescue people, fix the building, and fight criminal groups in New York City. These groups included the Rioters, who were common criminals taking advantage of the chaos; the Rikers, who were dangerous prisoners who had escaped from a jail called Rikers Island; and the Cleaners, who were sanitation workers using fire-based weapons to destroy anything they thought was infected.
The Agent later found a sample of the Green Poison and discovered it was created by Dr. Gordon Amherst, a controversial scientist. The Agent also learned about Aaron Keener, a rogue SHD agent who had joined a private military group called the Last Man Battalion (LMB), which was enemies with the SHD. The Agent tried to rescue a Russian scientist named Vitaly Tchernenko, who claimed to have information about the virus, but Keener and the LMB captured him before the Agent could reach him. After helping the JTF gather supplies and weapons, the Agent and the JTF attacked the LMB’s base, which was the former headquarters of the United Nations. Keener and his group fled with Tchernenko, but the leader of the LMB, Charles Bliss, returned to fight and was killed by the Agent.
After the battle, Faye Lau told the Agent that most of the threats had been defeated or weakened, the LMB had split into smaller groups, and New York City was becoming more stable. Later, the Agent received a mysterious signal leading them to a hidden laboratory. There, they found the remains of Dr. Amherst and learned he had died from the Green Poison. The Agent was told that information in the lab could help create a vaccine. They also found a message from Amherst explaining he had created the virus as part of an eco-terrorist plan to reduce the human population to save the environment. A message from Keener was also discovered, in which he announced his plan to create a new version of the virus and offered the Agent a role as a Rogue Agent.
Development
Tom Clancy's The Division was first created as a game exclusive to eighth-generation consoles. After the game was introduced, Ubisoft said other platforms might be considered. Ubisoft asked PC gamers to sign petitions to show interest, and then they would decide. The game's new ideas and technology had been in development for many years, though actual game development started in early 2013.
At E3 2013, the game was officially announced with a trailer that explained Operation Dark Winter and Directive 51. During the event, Ubisoft introduced a companion app that allowed players to use tablets to play the game. Players could join as drones to help others on PC and consoles. On August 20, 2013, Ubisoft said the game would be released for PC on Windows because of the strong interest from PC gamers. On February 7, 2014, Ubisoft said Ubisoft Reflections was helping develop the game, focusing on map design, character design, and online features. Red Storm Entertainment, a Ubisoft subsidiary co-founded by Tom Clancy, worked on weapon design. Ubisoft Annecy was also named as a co-developer on May 8, 2015.
On May 15, 2014, it was reported that The Division would be delayed until 2015, based on a statement from Massive Entertainment. The game uses Ubisoft's new engine called Snowdrop, designed for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. At E3 2014 on June 9, the game was shown again with a planned release in late 2015. In February 2016, Ubisoft said downloadable content for The Division would be exclusive to Xbox One for a time.
At E3 2015, the final release date and a competitive multiplayer area called the Dark Zone were announced. The companion app was canceled because drones might make the competitive mode unfair. Unlike earlier demos, Long Island and Staten Island were not in the game at launch, while Brooklyn only appeared as a tutorial area at the start. The beta was planned for Xbox One in December 2015 and for PlayStation 4 and Windows in 2016. On December 7, 2015, Ubisoft moved the beta to early 2016 and started an Xbox One exclusive alpha on December 9, 2015.
On January 26, 2016, it was confirmed that the Closed Beta would begin on January 28, 2016, for Xbox One and January 29, 2016, for PlayStation 4 and Windows, ending on February 1, 2016. On January 31, 2016, Ubisoft extended the beta to end on February 2, 2016.
On February 9, 2016, Ubisoft announced the open beta would start on February 18, 2016, for Xbox One and February 19, 2016, for PC and PlayStation 4, ending on February 22, 2016. Over 6.4 million players participated in the open beta. On February 27, 2016, Ubisoft confirmed there would be no microtransactions at launch. The game was released on March 8, 2016, two years after its original planned release date.
A short film titled The Division: Agent Origins was released on Amazon Prime Video.
The game includes additional content such as daily and weekly missions, Dark Zone missions, and free updates after launch. The April update, Incursions, added new gadgets, an area called Falcon Lost, and improved AI. The May update, Conflict, introduced Dark Zone Extraction Hijacking and a new Incursion called Clear Sky. The game was planned to have three paid expansions. In June, Underground was released, featuring missions in tunnels and subways. It was followed by Survival, which added a new game mode, and Last Stand, planned for late 2016.
Survival and Last Stand were delayed to late 2016 and early 2017, respectively, so Ubisoft could fix issues like game balance and bugs. Survival was available on all platforms by December. Last Stand was released on February 28, 2017.
In March 2017, Ubisoft announced plans for a second year of content with two free expansions. Update 1.7, released on August 15, added "Global Events," face customization, cosmetic items, and "Commendations" to replace "Feats." Update 1.8, released on December 5, 2017, added a new area called West Side Pier and two new game modes: Resistance, where players fight waves of enemies, and Skirmish, a multiplayer mode where teams compete for the highest kill count.
In December 2025, an update was released for the PlayStation 4 version of the game, improving performance to allow the game to run at 60 frames per second on the PlayStation 5.
Reception
Tom Clancy's The Division received "generally favorable" reviews from Metacritic, a website that collects game reviews. Ars Technica compared The Division to Destiny, a first-person shooter game that shares similar features, such as items, crafting, and "shared world" elements. The game was also compared to modern massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), with reviewers noting that its structure resembled games like Guild Wars 2 or World of Warcraft. This included issues like long waits to join a game server at launch and the inclusion of collectible and upgrade systems typical of Ubisoft games. Critics pointed out that The Division lacked variety in its activities and missions, stating that it did not significantly change or improve the "loot shooter" genre. The game was also criticized for not taking risks, especially in its enemy and encounter design. The Dark Zone, a dangerous area in the game, was described as intense but criticized for being similar to Destiny's post-game content, which only provided gear needed for later play in the same area. It also did not introduce major new gameplay mechanics like Destiny's raids.
Vince Ingenito of IGN was more critical, saying that for every good aspect of The Division, there was a significant problem. He described the game's atmosphere as "barren and unengaging," noting the lack of dynamic events, long stretches of empty walking, and limited mission variety. The grid layout of Manhattan made navigation tedious. The game's gun mechanics were described as standard, similar to other Tom Clancy games, with weapons having distinct feels based on their statistics. Ingenito praised the tactical depth of combat, making victories satisfying.
The progression system was criticized for being confusing, requiring players to visit multiple locations to upgrade abilities. This made it hard to know how strong a player was, leading to unexpected difficulties in missions. Post-game content mainly involved harder versions of story missions with tougher enemies. However, Ingenito praised the Dark Zone for improving the game's pacing, adding risk, and making player interactions more engaging. He concluded that the game's ideas and mechanics were not well connected, making the experience inconsistent.
Before version 1.0.2 of the game, named enemy NPCs could respawn endlessly if their followers were not killed, allowing players to collect high-quality loot repeatedly. The most targeted enemy was the Bullet King, who was close to player spawn points. This glitch was fixed in patch 1.0.2, released by Ubisoft on March 22, 2016. An exotic weapon in The Division 2, an LMG that never reloads, was named after the Bullet King.
At the 20th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, The Division was nominated for "Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay." Ubisoft reported that The Division broke company records, including the highest first-day sales (surpassing Watch Dogs' 2014 record) and becoming the company's best-selling game. It also set an industry record for the largest first-week launch of a new franchise, earning an estimated $330 million globally. The retail version of The Division was the top-selling game in the U.K. and Ireland during its release week, debuting at No. 1 in the UK retail software sales chart. It marked the biggest video game debut in the first quarter of the year in the U.K., surpassing Sony's Gran Turismo 4. The game was the third-largest Ubisoft launch in the U.K., after Assassin's Creed III and Watch Dogs. It also set a record for the highest week-one sales of a new intellectual property, beating Destiny's previous record. The game sold over 80,000 units in its first week in Japan and was the top-selling game in the U.S. in March 2016. It sold more than 10 million copies during the eighth generation of video game consoles.
Film adaptation
In June 2016, it was announced that a live-action movie version of The Division was being made. Jake Gyllenhaal was chosen to play the main character and also help produce the film with Gerard Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures. By August 2016, Jessica Chastain was cast in a supporting role.
In January 2017, Stephen Gaghan was hired to direct the film, but he left the project in 2018. In April 2018, David Leitch became the new director. The film’s producers include Kelly McCormick, Gyllenhaal, Guillemot, Riva Marker, Chastain, and Kelly Carmichael.
In June 2019, during Ubisoft’s E3 2019 presentation, it was announced that Rafe Judkins would write the screenplay. Netflix bought the rights to distribute the film and planned to release it exclusively on its streaming service. The project is a partnership between Nine Stories Productions, Freckle Films, 87North, and Ubisoft Motion Pictures. On February 25, 2021, Deadline reported that Rawson Marshall Thurber would take over as director from Leitch due to Leitch’s schedule conflicts with another film, Bullet Train. Thurber would continue as a producer.
In an interview with producers from 87North, it was reported that the project was paused because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They explained that the film’s themes were similar to the in-game pandemic, and it felt “too heavy” at the time.
Sequel
On March 9, 2018, a sequel to the game Tom Clancy's The Division 2 was officially announced. The game was being developed by Massive Entertainment. It was officially shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 in June 2018. On June 10, 2018, the release date for Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 was set for March 15, 2019. The game is set in Washington, D.C., after it falls into chaos, and six months after the events of Tom Clancy's The Division.