Leak points to The Division open beta starting February 16

The streets of post-outbreak Manhattan will surge with well-armed life once more when The Division enters open beta later this month, if an apparent leak on Facebook (via Eurogamer) is accurate. The online shooter from Ubisoft is now at the tail end of its closed beta weekend (it will end on February 2 at 11 am GMT / 3 am PST after receiving a 24-hour extension), but the official Facebook page of Xbox Italy revealed that an even lengthier pre-release session is on the way.

The open beta will run from February 16 to 21, including a 24-hour head start on Xbox One, according to the since-pulled post. Once it goes live on your platform of choice you should be able to download the beta client and drop in free of charge; getting into the closed beta required either pre-ordering The Division, winning a code in a giveaway, or signing up for an extended wait list.

I played The Division for a while over the weekend, and its network conditions were much more solid that I had expected. Players did encounter some glitches which made certain players into invisible, immortal killing machines (not the kind of rogue agent you want to encounter in the Dark Zone), but that's to be expected of a beta. Speaking of things to expect from betas, make sure you read up on our The Division beta tips before you start playing. Ubisoft plans to release the full game on March 8.