The Division Won't Have Microtransactions, Ubisoft Says

Ubisoft's upcoming third-person shooter The Division will not offer microtransactions. That's according to community manager Natchai Stappers, who sounded off on the subject recently on Twitter (via IGN). People who played The Division's beta may have noticed the existence of "Phoenix Credits," but it sounds like these will not be available to buy with real-money, instead earned through gameplay exclusively.

He went on to say that Ubisoft will provide further details on the Phoenix Credit system at a later date.

Ubisoft originally floated the idea of microtransactions for The Division back in summer 2014. At the time, Ubisoft Massive managing director David Polfeldt said the studio was "definitely" looking at allowing players to be able to pay to speed up their progress. "Some things require time in the game and some people don't want to invest time; they want the shortcut. So we're looking at those types of trades," he said.

In January 2016, creative director Magnus Jansen confirmed that plans for shortcut microtransactions had been scrapped. "It was under consideration, but it never made it into the game," he said. "So there won't be any microtransactions like that. No shortcuts."

This is something of a change of practice for Ubisoft, as two of the studio's biggest recent releases--Rainbow Six Siege and Assassin's Creed Syndicate--both offer microtransaction systems.

The Division will offer extra paid content beyond the base game, however, in the form of multiple expansion packs.

In other news about The Division, the game's open beta recently ended. It attracted 6.4 million players across PC, PS4, and Xbox One, representing a new record for a new IP's beta on new-generation consoles.

The Division's full release is scheduled for March 8. Ubisoft has high hopes for it, as the publisher recently said it could join Destiny, Watch Dogs, and Assassin's Creed to become of the biggest new IP launches ever. A new, 60fps PC trailer has also been released; you can watch it right here.