Six years after launch, The Division 2 is getting an 'updated take' on extraction shooting

Extraction is the hot new mode for multiplayer shooters, even though it's been around since 2016 and therefore can hardly be considered "new". Every game from Delta Force to Marathon is trying to muscle in on stuffing your backpack with guns and skipping your way out of a map, with varying degrees of success.

Anyway, scrambling to get to the helicopter before it flies off is The Division 2, which Ubisoft has just announced is getting its own take on the game mode popularised by Hunt: Showdown and Escape from Tarkov—six years on from its launch in 2019. It's an odd time to start bolting on additional modes to this aging looter shooter, though I suppose it's good that The Division 2 is receiving such long-term support.

Anyway, the mode is called The Division 2: Survivors, and is being directed by Magnus Jansén, who oversaw the design of the first game. Ubisoft says on its website that Survivors is "an updated take on the survival extraction experience", though the publisher doesn't specify how it's been updated. In fact, that's pretty much all Ubisoft has to say on the project at present. The only other snippet of information is that The Division 2: Survivors will be developed with heavy involvement of the community.

"The Division 2: Survivors is as much your baby as it is ours, and we strive for transparency during development," explains Julian Gerighty, executive producer on the project. "Clear communication and community involvement are a focus as we build the new experience, and we will be closely involving you as we move forward on the development journey."

This is, of course, extremely standard for any modern multiplayer game, but good to hear nonetheless. It's worth noting that this isn't the first time the series has dipped its toe into survival gaming. The original game received a survival-oriented expansion (called, simply, Survival) back in 2016, introducing mechanics like hunger, thirst, and disease as players attempted to escape the map via The Dark Zone before succumbing to a sepsis infection—lovely.

Survival mode was beloved by The Division's community, though much of this is familiar fare for games in the genre these days. Given Ubisoft's emphasis on an "updated" survival extraction experience for The Division 2, I imagine it'll be substantially different from what players experienced in the first game.

There's no word on when The Division 2: Survivors will release, though it's unlikely to arrive much before 2026.