Ubisoft’s upcoming free-to-play competitive shooter has had a rocky road to release. The game was first slated to launch this summer but ran into issues when trying to pass certification on both PlayStation and Xbox consoles. There was then hope that XDefiant would be out by late September if the team could iron out the issues in time. Obviously, that date has come and gone, but a recent rumor said that XDefiant might be looking to launch on October 17, the same day that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone is starting the semi-annual Haunting event. However, a new rumor claims that the date might have been pushed back once again to October 28.
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The latest rumor comes from TheMW2Ghost on Twitter. They are a reputable leaker of that series but don’t usually cover other games. As with any leak or rumor, you’ll want to take this with a grain of salt because the XDefiant devs have yet to say anything about a release date. That said, MW2 Ghost claims that there is a launch event taking place on October 28, which would mean the team has made the decision to not release alongside a new Call of Duty event.
If that turns out to be the case, that’s probably a good choice for XDefiant. Going head-to-head with a major Call of Duty event just a few weeks before the next game in that long-running franchise hits was always going to be difficult. It’s still going to be a tough window to launch in, but if XDefiant is going to become the long-tail game Ubisoft wants, it’ll have plenty of time to find its niche.
What is XDefiant?
XDefiant is a free-to-play first-person shooter where players have access to several different characters, each with their own abilities. Each character comes from a specific faction, which pulls from several of Ubisoft’s fan-favorite franchises including Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and The Division. Beyond launch, Ubisoft already has plans to incorporate factions from Far Cry and Watch Dogs as well. Given how many properties Ubisoft has in its back catalog, we’ll probably see it dig even deeper into its reservoir, potentially bringing in crossovers with everything from Assassin’s Creed to Rayman. It’s probably unlikely, but there’s even the chance we’ll see a Just Dance faction at some point.
Matches take place in six-on-six multiplayer combat. Similar to factions, the maps will come from some of Ubisoft’s biggest franchises. There will also be several brand-new maps for XDefiant, but Ubisoft is seemingly doing everything it can to turn XDefiant into its own “cinematic universe.”
XDefiant is rumored to be out at some point in October. Whether that’s on October 17 or 28, we don’t know for sure yet, but Ubisoft will likely make an announcement soon. When it is released, the game is coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms.
