Ubisoft's "The Division" was a major hit during and prior to its release on March. However, it began losing favor from its players in the last six months, making them abandon the game one by one.
According to Gamespot, the game developers put a hold on the release of any upcoming downloadable content after the first one. By delaying the release, Ubisoft will be prioritizing on improving core gameplay experience for the entire game.
The game was received well at first, with strong sales following its initial release. However, most reviews that came after a few months centered on how the game lacked end-game content, contained numerous glitches and was an open target for cheaters.
The game developers from Ubisoft tried to fix this with releasing the game's first DLC "Underground." According to Mobile & Apps, the expansion was released sometime on July and was expected to make a comeback. However, the DLC still have not met expections from the community. Metacritic give it a score of 69 for the Xbox One version and an even lower score for the PS 4 version at 63.
Other reviews bash the "Underground" DLC for having players to endlessly "grind" in the game, plus the unfair player matchmaking in multiplayer mode. It was also claimed to be "undercooked," bringing nothing new to the game.
The DLC "Survival" was supposed to be released right after the first one, offering "a completely new way to play the game." As the title implies, the game would focus on survival in Manhattan's harsh environment, with the story also probably centering on the finding the cure for the pandemic.
According to a blog post, Ubisoft was proud to see the record-breaking sales in the last six months since its release. However, they could not ignore the "lingering issues" that affected players' experiences ever since.
The company responded to the fan feedback (along with its own observations) by working on patch 1.4 to provide fixes and improvements for the players. With the 1.4 update, it will even address the game's "most pressing issues." All in all, Ubisoft plans to exhaust all efforts to improve "The Division" with possible upcoming updates starting with patch 1.4.
More details on "The Division's" update 1.4 will be covered in a livestream even coming this Sept. 13.