Ubisoft may hold a beta for its upcoming online shooter The Division, according to comments from chief executive Yves Guillemot. Speaking during a recent earnings briefing about the game's delay to 2016, Guillemot referenced alpha and beta periods for the game.

　　See his quote below with emphasis added.

　　"It's an RPG online game. So those games take more time to be completed," Guillemot explained about the delay.

　　"We want to make sure we have enough feedback from consumers from alpha and betas to polish it as much as possible before the launch. So that it comes to the market with the best experience possible."

　　That Ubisoft would offer an alpha/beta for The Division is not entirely unexpected. The company has a history of letting people play its games before release for the purposes of testing. What's more, fans on Reddit earlier this year discovered references to an alpha on The Division's website.

　　The Division was first scheduled to launch in 2014, a release window that an anonymous development source described as "laughable." In May 2014, Ubisoft delayed The Division to 2015, while the latest delay to 2016 was announced yesterday as part of Ubisoft's latest earnings report.

　　Revealed at E3 2013, The Division is a third-person shooter set in a post-apocalyptic New York. Ubisoft has said the title will feature an "unprecedented level of realism." Just last week, Ubisoft announced that a fourth studio had joined Ubisoft Massive to work on The Division.

　　For a closer look at The Division, which is in development for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, check out some images in the gallery below.

　　Gallery