The Division Might Be Getting An Open Beta This Month

If you’ve been on the fence about preordering Tom Clancy’s The Division, there’s a pretty good chance you can try it for free before you buy, while helping Ubisoft iron out bugs and glitches. Xbox Italy’s official Facebook page posted a picture showing that Ubisoft’s open-world, multiplayer shooter will be getting an open beta later this month (via Eurogamer).

According to the image, the open beta will take place from February 16th to 21st. This hasn’t been officially announced by Ubisoft yet, so nothing is permanent. However, since the source is an official Microsoft page, they probably have the most solid information. It should be noted that those playing on Xbox One will get to play for 24 hours before those on PlayStation 4 or PC, due to Xbox exclusive access.

The Division is currently in its first full beta test, which will end later today. The test, which launched on Friday, was originally meant to last through yesterday, but Ubisoft extended it through today due to really high demand. Those who preordered the game got invited to this beta first, followed by any lucky souls who had signed up on the game’s official site and were invited off the waiting list.

A second, more inclusive beta test makes sense, considering some players have been able to cheat on the PC version. The game pulls the level XP and ammo from the player’s system, which apparently makes that data open to abuse by players who can manually override their settings. Those who know how can give themselves unlimited ammo and super speed. This makes the Dark Zone, an everyone-for-themselves area, almost impossible for those who aren’t using the exploit.

While Ubisoft has said that the issues are only bugs and glitches, users on the game’s subreddit insist it’s a networking architecture error (using more colorful language), and say that this isn’t something easily fixed before the game launches on march 8th.

Keep an eye on Gameranx for the second beta’s official update.