'Tom Clancy's The Division' Release Date Delay; Ubisoft Plans Beta Test Before 2016 Launch

Bad news for gamers itching to play "Tom Clancy's The Division": It will not be released this year, as earlier promised by its developer Ubisoft, and will only see the light of day next year, hopefully.

In a recent announcement, Ubisoft said it plans to beta test the game first, something it has done for many of its games.

The release of "Tom Clancy's The Division" has now been postponed three times. It was initially set to arrive in 2013. It was then postponed to 2014 and later to 2015.

The additional delay of the game's release to 2016 was announced in Ubisoft's FY15 earnings report. It said the massive multiplayer online, or MMO, and role-playing game, or RPG, is still being created with stellar graphics; hence, the new postponement of the game's release date.

A timeframe for the release was also revealed in the earnings report. It indicated that "Tom Clancy's The Division" would land sometime between January and March of next year.

The CEO of Ubisoft Yves Guillemot said in the earnings report that "RPG online games take longer to complete," adding that "we want feedback from consumers using alpha and betas to polish the game before launch."

This indicated that a beta is being planned for the game. Earlier this year, screenshots from an ongoing alpha test, where only a select few gamers were invited, were posted online.

"Tom Clancy's The Division" is set in New York after an apocalyptic event. When it announced the game during E3 2013, Ubisoft said it will come with an "unprecedented level of realism."

Currently four studios are working on the third-person shooter including Massive Entertainment, Red Storm, Reflections, and Ubisoft Annecy.

PC Gamer said the game is expected to be showcased in this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Los Angeles, which will be held from June 16 to 18.