The upcoming F2P shooter XDefiant misses the chance to outdo Call of Duty, but has a really good reason for it.
What kind of game is this? XDefiant is an upcoming arena shooter from Ubisoft, set to be released as a free-to-play title on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
- You play in XDefiant different factions from Ubisoft titles – including, for example, the Libertad fighters from Far Cry 6 or the Cleaners from The Division.
- Various PvP modes are played such as Domination and Payload.
- XDefiant features intuitive weapon handling with low recoil as well as relatively fast movement. Additionally, you can modify your weapons with attachments.
One of the most important factors of XDefiant is the absence of SBMM (Skill-based Matchmaking), which is very unpopular especially in the Call of Duty community. XDefiant does not want SBMM in casual modes; it will only be implemented in ranked play.
Here you can see a trailer for XDefiant:
XDefiant currently cannot name a release date
What was the opportunity? Ubisoft originally announced that XDefiant was to be released in the summer of 2023. This would have allowed the shooter to come out before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
A release before the launch of CoD MW3 would have given XDefiant the chance to take advantage of the current weak phase of the popular franchise. Players have been dissatisfied with the current CoD MW2 for months (via Reddit).
How did XDefiant let the opportunity slip away? Ubisoft postponed the planned release of XDefiant from summer 2023 to mid to late September or early to mid-October – but even the two new dates could not be met (via X.com, formerly Twitter).
When Ubisoft postponed XDefiant again on October 9, Mark Rubin, Executive Producer at Ubisoft and head of XDefiant, explained that the team wanted to fix some issues identified during the recent public test on September 28.
On the first of November, Mark Rubin, who very transparently communicated the status of the game on X.com, stated again that he could not currently name a new release date. He also describes the reasons that led to the delay.
XDefiant misses the opportunity for a good reason
Why did XDefiant let the opportunity slip away? For a really good reason. As Mark Rubin explained in his post, the team continues to work on some issues and wants to only name a new release date when they are sure about it.
The reasons that Mark Rubin cites for the delay are also aspects that have been negatively noted in previous tests. These include:
- Frame spikes that according to Rubin cause the movement not to work properly and especially the slide feels clunky or even nerfed.
- The problem was due to a small part of the anti-cheat system, but has now been fixed.
- Netcode efficiency and de-sync: The team wants to reduce latency and occasional de-sync incidents that players may have experienced when another player had a bad latency or packet loss.
- Server performance: According to Rubin, XDefiant is switching to Linux servers in order to improve overall server performance and better handle large player numbers.
- Social and party system: The old system did not meet expectations and performed poorly under higher loads in the beta.
These are all changes that should please beta players. Especially the servers and the social/party system have left much to be desired during the test phases. As a fast shooter, XDefiant also relies on movement working as it should.
It is therefore really good that XDefiant is addressing the problems and was not released on the market despite the errors. Still, I already had the feeling in the beta: XDefiant shows Call of Duty how good a shooter can be even without a €70 price tag
