The Division beta now available on Xbox One, PC and PS4

The full game is scheduled for release on 8 March

Xbox One owners can now play the new Tom Clancy game, The Division — a day before people with PCs or PlayStation 4s.

The Division is a third-person shooter in the vein of other recent Tom Clancy games. It is online only, and available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

The plot revolves around a smallpox pandemic that is transmitted across the US, and the game depicts a group of military agents as they attempt to survive after everyone else has left. The game challenges players to stay alive as long as they can, either competitively or against one another.

The game has opened exclusively on Xbox One, and will start on PC and PlayStation 4 on Friday. All of the betas will close on 31 January, at the end of the weekend.

The only sure-fire way to get onto the beta is to pre-order a copy of the game. But some codes are being given out on social media — and other players have had success ordering the game, receiving the code and then cancelling that order, though that loophole now appears to have been closed.

The game includes a co-operative mode as well as a competitive one. Players can also try out the various other parts the game, such as the character customisation.