Tom Clancy’s The Division is gearing up for its scheduled release on March 8. But even with its impending release just three weeks away, developer Ubisoft Massive still has some surprises hidden up its sleeve. Tech junkies and VR gurus will be pleased to hear that The Division will support eye-tracking technology at its launch.
Ubisoft have teamed up with Tobii, a VR hardware and eye-tracking technology developer, to bring this new bleeding-edge functionality to The Division. The new technology will be present at launch, but will require compatible hardware, such as Tobii’s own EyeX sensor, to work properly.
The range of features allegedly using the eye-tracking technology in The Division is impressive. For example, Tobii’s website named features such as “aim at gaze” and “grenade at gaze,” which allow players to automatically snap their targeting reticule to whatever on-screen enemy they’re looking at. Players can also use the technology to move from cover to cover, tag enemies on the screen, and mark points of interest. In addition to these active features, The Division will also allegedly incorporate more passive eye-tracking features for more subtle user experience enhancements. For example, a hands-on report from Gamespot revealed that areas of the on-screen HUD that weren’t being looked at by the player would gray out or turn opaque, removing obstructions and decluttering the screen.
And now it’s time for a video!
The Division is far from the first game to jump on the VR/eye-tracking bandwagon – in fact, Tobii has worked with Ubisoft on previous titles, though it’s one of the first big-budget titles to launch with such functionality built in. Tobii is also selling developers its EyeX dev kit for $95 for any tech-savvy game devs out there.
