Ubisoft has announced another XDefiant delay, marking another hold-up for the upcoming free-to-play arena FPS following the recent playtest.
Why is XDefiant Delayed Again by Ubisoft?
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), XDefiant's development team explained that the recent playtests had "surfaced some inconsistencies in the game experience" that they needed to address prior to launching the preseason. They continued to explain;
"The team will continue working to address these issues and testing them to make sure we deliver on our goal of being a best-in-class arcade shooter. We will share more information about Preseason and testing as it comes."
Back in September, executive producer Mark Rubin provided a reason for the lack of any release date for the game. In the explanation he went into the certification process in general, revealing that in August they had gotten a Not-Pass on certification for at least one platform.
They spent the next few weeks working to fix things and were looking to hit a late September to mid-October release, an announcement of which was likely to come after the playtest, before the change of plans.
Earlier this year, Ubisoft said they planned a release date of XDefiant for this fiscal year, which is still possible. That would require them to make adjustments to the game, and pass certification before March, but it can probably be done and may avoid launching against direct competition like Call of Duty.
What is XDefiant?
Originally announced in 2021, XDefiant is an attempt by Ubisoft to enter the free-to-play shooter market with a fast-paced arena shooter. It has teams of 6 members, with factions drawn from across Ubisoft's IPs. Given that it previously had the Tom Clancy branding, this will likely include games like Rainbow Six, The Division, and Splinter Cell. If they are feeling a bit wild, they might draw on other Ubisoft franchises like For Honor and Assassin's Creed.
