Ubisoft recently resumed production on "The Division 2," but that's not the only fire Tom Clancy has lit. In a major update on the franchise's future, the company revealed that an all-new free-to-play Division game, Heartland, is also in development at Red Storm Studios. [Ubisoft said, "Red Storm is the perfect fit for this project, as they have worked on Tom Clancy's games since 1997 and have extensive experience across many genres and games, including most recently 'The Division' and 'The Division 2'." While "Heartland" is a stand-alone game and can be enjoyed even if you have never played the series, it will be a completely new perspective on the universe in a new setting.

No further details are available, but the phrase "a whole new perspective" makes me think that a battle royale based on The Division is the most likely scenario. Activision has had great success with Call of Duty: Warzone, and EA's own free-to-play battle royale, Apex Legends, has been a huge hit. But Ubisoft's entry into the BR genre, Hyper Scape, has been largely forgotten and, in fact, is included in the list of games we forget were released in 2020. While a Hyper Scape comeback seems unlikely, a battle royale built around the familiar Tom Clancy brand may give Ubisoft new traction.

It could also be an entirely different work. The subtitle "Ubisoft Original" has echoes of Electronic Arts' EA Originals label, which publishes indie-inspired titles such as Unravel, Sea of Solitude, and It Takes Two, and this could be something like: a story-driven exploration game in which Division agents try to survive and restore order in America's heartland, far from the support systems (and murder-mad gangsters) of New York City and Washington, DC. This could be pretty cool.

(Although I'm still betting on Battle Royale.)

In any case, "Heartland" will likely move the series away from the metropolitan settings of the first two games: as the title makes clear, the image released by Ubisoft shows a decrepit water tower and lots The image released by Ubisoft depicts a dilapidated water tower and a lot of trees, looking like something out of Far Cry 5.

Ubisoft also announced that it is developing its first ever Division mobile game, details of which will be revealed "at a later date," and is still working on the Netflix movie announced two years ago starring Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal. Also in the works is a novel set after the events of "Division 2" that will "explore how the outbreak affects different regions of the United States as agents scramble to secure supply routes."

The Division: Heartland will be released on PC and consoles in 2021-22, and those who want to play it early can join the upcoming beta test here.