Ubisoft officially confirms the previously leaked open beta for The Division, which will begin February 18th for Xbox One owners, and February 19th for everyone else.

Outside of some hacking problems in the PC version, the beta for Tom Clancy's The Division mostly went off without a hitch. Perhaps in an effort to ensure that the launch of the game proper is just as successful, Ubisoft has officially announced a second beta for the game, but this time it will be completely open for anyone to download and play.

This previously leaked beta will take place from February 18th to February 21st on Xbox One, with PC and PlayStation 4 owners having to wait until February 19th to jump into the action. Users across all platforms will be able to pre-load the new beta for The Division starting February 16th.

While some gamers may have had their fill with the previous beta, it may be benefit them to partake in this one as well. That's because it will include a brand new story mission, and will even net participants a special "in-game reward" come the game's full release in March. Ubisoft is keeping tight-lipped when it comes to what the new story mission will entail or what the in-game reward may be, but for the latter, it's probably a special cosmetic item or weapon.

Regardless of any new incentives, anyone that enjoyed playing The Division's previous beta (which was a lot of people considering Ubisoft had to limit beta access), should be happy to have the opportunity to jump into virus-ridden NYC again before launch. In addition, those that were unable to get in to the previous beta for whatever reason now have a chance to try out The Division for themselves and see what all the fuss is about.

Hopefully this new beta has enough new content to justify revisiting it for those that have already spent plenty of time with the previous beta. The new story mission is intriguing, and it will be interesting to see what happens next in the plot. Perhaps this new mission will dictate that The Division beta map size is increased to allow players to explore more of Manhattan.

Ubisoft will definitely win some brownie points with the gaming community for running an open beta for The Division on top of the previous closed beta. This will allow even more gamers to test out the game ahead of launch, and may even convince some that are on the fence to take the plunge come its full launch in March.

Tom Clancy's The Division will be available on March 8th for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: GameSpot