Home Gaming The Division drops its companion app

The Division drops its companion app

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DivisionCA

Back when we first saw the Division, companion apps were all the rage. Just about every game – especially the ones from Ubisoft – pegged having a Tablet alongside you was the best way to play games. As such, Division was set to have a companion app; a separate, but connected tablet game that would allow friends to aid you in missions by working as a drone that could help heal, or sneak in a few aerial shots at bad guys. It looked amazing, if not superfluous.

Well, that’s no longer happening. According to IGN, Massive entertainment has confirmed that the Companion app for The Division has been canned. According to them, the drones “created an imbalance.”

In some ways, I’m relieved. I imagine a sky full of drones in a game like The Division to be like mosquitoes in summer; annoying, noisy, likely to make an otherwise sane person explode in fits of homicidal rage. On the other, the implementation really seemed quite spectacular, and added an extra layer of tactics on an already tactical, hardcore RPG shooter.

The problem of course, is that companion apps – despite good intentions – have largely been terrible, and I’m becoming increasingly glad that they seem to be going away. That nonsense Ubisoft pulled with locking certain chests in Assassin’s Creed Unity unless they were opened via the companion app? Rubbish, and I’m happy to see even less of it. Is it the end of the era of silly superfluous add-on apps?

You may or may not know this, but our Alessandro was among the first people in the world not employed by Ubisoft to go hands on with Ubi and Massive’s ambitious online RPG.

He rather liked it. I got to see the game last year, and found it to be a surprisingly in-depth RPG, much to my delight. It’s a game that I’m looking rather forward to, and the lack of a companion isn’t going to do much to dampen that excitement.

Last Updated: June 23, 2015

74 Comments

  1. kuuu(UMAR)rrrr

    June 23, 2015 at 11:35

    Division looks awesome, but I’m at an age where it’s way too much of an hassle to form a team. I can hardly organize a date night, let alone a tactical gun-slinging team.

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      June 23, 2015 at 11:39

      That’s something I’m seeing with many of these co-op games being announced now. You need to organise a proper team with decent comms in order to play the game, can’t just have drop-in co-op with random people. It’s what screwed Evolve over.

      Reply

      • kuuu(UMAR)rrrr

        June 23, 2015 at 11:46

        Maybe this game will have a natural flow to it when it comes to playing with strangers, but in most cases, especially with a game sporting any sort of tactical depth, it’s hard to play with strangers. That’s just my experience though.

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          June 23, 2015 at 11:54

          I can’t be arsed to organise a time with people to play a game. Planning ahead to play a game isn’t something I’ve ever done lol. The only reason I play Warframe is because I don’t have to, can just play with random people or solo.

          Reply

      • Captain JJ Browmehn

        June 23, 2015 at 11:48

        You need to find people who actually like to play with you ;P

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          June 23, 2015 at 11:48

          YOU’RE NOT MY MOTHER! I mean… er…

          Reply

          • Dutch Matrix

            June 23, 2015 at 11:50

            But I am your father!

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 11:55

            Welcome back Dutch 😉

          • Admiral Chief's Adventure

            June 23, 2015 at 11:56

            Hopefully you behave now

          • Dutch Matrix

            June 23, 2015 at 11:57

            What your mother said in a gimp suit! 🙂
            I promise nothing Admiral!

          • Admiral Chief's Adventure

            June 23, 2015 at 11:59

            Hahaha yomama jokes has no effect on me

          • Dutch Matrix

            June 23, 2015 at 12:03

            I put on my seriously offended face and tell ’em “My Mama’s dead, you halfwit!” and watch them apologize profusely for weeks on end.

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 23, 2015 at 11:57

            Proof that I can overcome adversity. 😉

          • Dutch Matrix

            June 23, 2015 at 11:58

            I can overcome obesity. As soon as I put this 1KG bar of swiss chocolate down…

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 11:59

            I thought you thrived on adversity…
            No wait, you thrive on others’ adversity. Yes, that’s it. 🙂

    • Geoffrey Tim

      June 23, 2015 at 11:42

      You can play alone, or join stragglers if you like.

      Reply

      • kuuu(UMAR)rrrr

        June 23, 2015 at 11:45

        I know, but, usually with these types of games a huge chunk of the fun is in playing with other people, especially on an organized level.

        Reply

      • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

        June 23, 2015 at 12:04

        Geralt only does co-op at Cripple Kates.

        Reply

        • Blood Emperor Trevor

          June 23, 2015 at 12:05

          There’s also the Passiflora, or don’t you get the high-end brothel on console? *run*

          Reply

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:08

            Too posh for me. I prefer my laddies smelling of Nekker pheromones.

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 23, 2015 at 12:09

            lol, it’s by the docks – it’s more likely they smell like fishy drowners. ;P

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:10

            Im getting aard just thinking about it.

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:12

            LOL

          • Admiral Chief's Adventure

            June 23, 2015 at 12:15

            YRDEN!

          • Dutch Matrix

            June 23, 2015 at 12:10

            Laddies? Not judging. Just surprised by this turn of events.

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:13

            I’ll admit, while I was playing some W3 last night I did find myself in a moment where I understand why you like Triss so much. 😉

      • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

        June 23, 2015 at 12:26

        You mean that!? That’s not just a rumour? Dear Lord man!! You have just made my friggin day!!

        Reply

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 23, 2015 at 11:47

      You need to find better friends then ;P

      Reply

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 23, 2015 at 11:57

      I quite enjoy these proper tactical games with a set team. I only have two friends who usually join in with me, but I’m quite guaranteed to always have at least a three-man team. I understand though that it’s not something everyone can do. It just makes it nice and tactical with other people, if you know each other well enough.
      To say you play something like BF or COD tactical is a bit like saying you’re playing Need For Speed for the realistic handling. 😀

      Reply

      • kuuu(UMAR)rrrr

        June 23, 2015 at 11:59

        Lolz I really enjoy it too. Used to jam SWAT with a bunch of friends back in the day, but times have changed though, I can’t plan ahead to play a game anymore. There’s still merit in it though, it’s just not as convenient, for me in any case.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 23, 2015 at 12:00

          Yea. I get it. In our case the two other guys are brothers and they live together, so getting the three-man team together is fairly easy.

          Reply

      • Admiral Chief's Adventure

        June 23, 2015 at 12:00

        I should really join you guys some time since my line has been stable for some time now, but, you know, monsters ain’t gonna slay themselves you know

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 23, 2015 at 12:06

          Haha. That’s true. I’m emptying Skellige now. So soon I’ll actually be pretty much done with all witcher and treasure quests. Then just have the side-quests remaining.
          We play quite often. In the weekends we tend to get some decent time in on a few co-op games.

          Reply

    • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

      June 23, 2015 at 12:03

      most people can hardly get a single player game to run these days.

      Reply

    • ElimiNathan

      June 23, 2015 at 14:24

      Forever alone

      Reply

  2. Admiral Chief's Adventure

    June 23, 2015 at 11:40

    While an awesome idea, I just cannot see it working with the current tech issues the guys have. I mean, they cannot even get a game to run properly on different platforms. Now a whole different type of game running concurrently with the main one? I can see that being a disaster in the QA department

    Reply

  3. oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

    June 23, 2015 at 11:58

    THANK FCUK

    Looks like Ubisoft learnt form the bullshit iPhone App to unlock chests in Unity. It can fcuk off.

    The new age suits at Ubisoft need to stay the hell away from the devs and let them envision their shit without being OVER HYPSTER. I dont want to see Facebook and Twitter icons in my bastard game.

    But alas U-PLAY will fcuk it up for all good paying punters.

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      June 23, 2015 at 11:59

      Just say FUCK. 😛

      Reply

      • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

        June 23, 2015 at 12:00

        I will 😉 Its all in the timing.

        Reply

    • Captain JJ Browmehn

      June 23, 2015 at 11:59

      Let’s not forget the pip-boy in the collectors edition of Fallout 4 ;P

      Reply

      • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

        June 23, 2015 at 12:02

        I dont get the feeling that their intention was greed but more in the lines of fan service.

        Their Fallout Shelter game was made for the fans. So glad its beating Candy Crush.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Browmehn

          June 23, 2015 at 12:04

          I agree with you on that Fallout Shelter game. Now we know why they went aapkak when there was another game with the word Fallout on it on mobile systems.
          I still feel that pip-boy in the collectors is a bit too cheapy. Coming from the incredible quality of the items in the Witcher 3 CE, they just don’t compare at all.

          Reply

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:05

            That dude who was dressed up as 101 bust both of his nuts at the announcement lol I am sure he will have one on each limb 😉

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:06

            Haha. Yea, probably.

          • Dutch Matrix

            June 23, 2015 at 12:07

            And one on his “Pipboy?”

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:12

            Vault Boy if we’re talking about Rince 😉

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 23, 2015 at 12:13

            More like a Bloatfly ;P

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:15

            LOL

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:15

            Vault 0 no soul required ;P

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:15

            Hehe

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:16

            A vault for gingers.

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:17

            On the plus side. You’ll have Triss in there. 😉

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:30

            You just made me all giddy

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:13

            On his Rad Roach

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:16

            Did I hear right when Geralt said Roach is a girl? I thought I had a manly steed all this time.

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 23, 2015 at 12:17

            Roach is a MARE.

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:18

            Does the word “girl” make you nervous? ;P

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 23, 2015 at 12:20

            Please, I’m only scared of real things. Girls are a myth.

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:21

            HAHA

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:23

            Like a black Succubus. Too soon.

            lol an elf who jumps between worlds explains to Gerald how he came across a world where the humans are taller and have dark skin. Weird.

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:19

            Nightmare

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 23, 2015 at 12:19

            Only Black Beauty.

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:20

            I got the black beauty 🙂 Not telling how I got it, spoiler.

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            June 23, 2015 at 12:20

            Me too 😀

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:21

            Stamina is 100, saddlebags 180, horse fear 70

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:21

            😀

          • Admiral Chief's Adventure

            June 23, 2015 at 12:21

            Aye, you have to constantly call her to come to you, and when the pressure gets too much she throws you off

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:22

            Luckily she’s never thrown me off.
            You’re expecting too much from her Admiral ;P

          • Admiral Chief's Adventure

            June 23, 2015 at 12:25

            That just means you are fatter than me…
            😛

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:31

            😀

          • oVg "I hate Portals" - Geralt

            June 23, 2015 at 12:17

            lol They did not want to spend extra polygons on a horse penis. Only Rockstar do the Penis.
            But yea, it explaines why Roach is so erratic…RUNS from the gamer gate fucktards.

          • Captain JJ Browmehn

            June 23, 2015 at 12:18

            Haha. I’d run too, tbh.

  4. Greylingad[CNFRMD]

    June 23, 2015 at 12:32

    To this day, I have not played a single companion app, why? Well I actually have never felt the need to, and that AC:Unity thing cheesed me off to the extent where I wanted to chew stones for the menthol effect… It’s a nice idea, but unless it’s a powerful addition, I don’t see the use for it.

    If they made it in a way where the contribution would be of real value, it’d be great, but it’s useless…

    Reply

  5. Jonah Cash

    June 23, 2015 at 20:44

    I will buy and play this for sure! There is still something magical for me to this game, can’t put my finger on it but I want this game.

    Reply

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