Have you noticed the unusual number of rubber duckies in "Division 2"? Wonder why? During a pre-show at today's Ubisoft Forward online event, level artist Karen Stanley explained the origin of the rubber ducky, what it means, and what the development team is planning next.

"There's something about programming, in particular, where you talk to a rubber duck to solve a problem. You talk to the rubber duck and just say it out loud and it helps," she explains at the beginning of the video. 'One of our artists decided to take this to another level. He enlarged the rubber ducks like a giant scale and put them in the level to remind them to do something.

Other developers liked the giant duck so much that they started putting little monuments all over the game world. And, as happens from time to time, these ducks took on a life of their own. Ubisoft began using ducks as an environmental narrative, and soon ducks came to be seen as a symbol of hope: the world is in turmoil, it is you and your fellow agents who will save it, and the ducks remind you that "there is something out there to save."

Stanley said that she doesn't know exactly how many rubber duckies are in "Division 2," but she does know that they haven't all been found yet. She also revealed that the developers have dropped another Easter egg into the game: the teddy bear Tommy, a trauma teddy that appears in Division lore (and can be purchased as game-related merchandise) but has never actually appeared in the game. Tommy was added as part of the Division 2 Episode 3 challenge and, unlike the duck, was quickly discovered.

And now this.