The Division beta delayed, closed Xbox One alpha begins this week

Ubisoft’s ambitious post-apocalyptic Tom Clancy-inspired MMORPG, The Division has suffered repeated delays since its initial announcement in 2013, and it’s just been hit with another one, albeit this time for a pre-launch demo. Despite being planned for this month, the game’s closed beta, which is offered to anyone who pre-ordered the game on any platform, has now been delayed into early 2016, according to Ubisoft’s official blog.

Division - GameplayFortunately, as promised, Xbox One players have some good news on the flip side, even if prospective PlayStation 4 and PC players are out in the cold for the rest of the year. The Division’s closed alpha, which is being offered exclusively to those who pre-ordered the game’s Xbox One version, will begin this week, and take place between Wednesday, December 9th, and Saturday, December 12th. The closed alpha will contain only a small snippet of gameplay, and is mostly being kept under wraps.

Bear in mind that the game’s alpha client is a little chunky as well, so if you’re on the list, and need to free up some hard drive space on your Xbox One console, keep at least 23.2 GB of space free for the client download. Ubisoft says that anyone on the list for the closed alpha will be granted access on an, “As needed” basis, suggesting that it’s possible some late pre-ordering Xbox One customers may not get access if they’ve put off their pre-order deposit. Regardless, anyone who pre-ordered The Division on any of the game’s three platforms, is guaranteed access to the closed beta in 2016.

The Division releases for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, on March 8th, 2016.

Keep patrolling Eggplante for all news and updates on The Division.