Ubisoft's The Division is getting a free-to-play spin-off and a mobile game

Out of the blue, Ubisoft today announced Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland, a brand new game coming from its Red Storm Entertainment studio. Moreover, the mobile space is being invaded by The Division franchise for the first time.

Heartland will be a free-to-play experience, unlike the mainline games. Ubisoft did not give out any more details on what sort of a game will this project turn out to be, only adding that it is a "standalone game that doesn’t require previous experience with the series but will provide an all new perspective on the universe in a new setting."

Red Storm has previously worked on a number of Tom Clancy games since 1997, and most recently, provided support for The Division 2's development. The studio plans to launch the mysterious title sometime in 2021 or 2022 across PC, consoles, and cloud platforms. Interested players can also attempt to enter an early playtest for the game by heading here.

Meanwhile, there is even less information available regarding the mobile game. Ubisoft says it is planning to bring The Division universe "to an even wider audience" with this move, with more details coming later. Ubisoft will be hosting another Forward event to showcase its upcoming games at E3 this year. That's probably where we will get to see more information about these latest projects.

As for The Division 2's future, Ubisoft Massive is continuing to lead its development while Ubisoft Bucharest is now providing support. The plan is to drop a brand new game mode for the largely cooperative title and a new method for leveling agents. This content is coming in late 2021. Keep in mind that Massive is also developing an open-world Star Wars game at the same time.

Ubisoft added that The Division franchise is now 40 million players strong. Going beyond just games, the company is collaborating with Netflix to develop a movie set in this universe, while a brand new novel is incoming from the publisher Aconyte Books that explores the aftermath of The Division 2's storyline.