Ubisoft Reveals Tom Clancy’s XDefiant

Ubisoft announced Tom Clancy’s XDefiant on Monday, a new, free-to-play game within the Tom Clancy universe. The new game invites different factions and characters from throughout past Tom Clancy games such as the Splinter Cell series and The Division to do battle against one another. A release date hasn’t yet been announced just yet, but it’s been confirmed that the game will release for the Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and PC via Ubisoft Connect.

Previews of the game were shared on social media on Sunday to show some of the first-person gunplay present in the full reveal, and that plus Ubisoft’s own teasers that this would be set within the Tom Clancy universe set the stage for the game. It’s being developed by Ubisoft San Francisco with Call of Duty veteran Mark Rubin on board as the executive producer and Ubisoft San Francisco’s Jason Schroeder serving as the creative director.

The “XDefiant” name relates to the characters people will play as which are called “Defiants” and can be customized according to preferred playstyles. When building a Defiant, players get to choose things like the faction that character is assigned to, their traits and “faction-based abilities,” and of course, their weapon loadouts. Some of the factions confirmed for the game already include Echelon from Splinter Cell, Wolves from Ghost Recon, and the Outcasts and Cleaners from The Division. Ubisoft added that more of these Defiants will be brought into the game as it continues with those Defiants continuing to pull from the Tom Clancy universe “and beyond.” That last part hints at crossovers or at least future Tom Clancy characters being brought into the game, but how that’ll play out remains to be seen.

As for the actual gameplay of XDefiant including maps and modes, all matches will be played in 6v6 arenas that pull from locations within the Tom Clancy universe. Domination and Escort modes were two of the different objective-based variants that’ll be available, too. Once in the matches, players are still able to customize their loadouts even after they’ve respawned to deal with whatever sorts of situations they may encounter.

For those looking forward to testing out this new XDefiant game, you won’t have to wait much longer. The first test will begin on August 5th with registration now open for updates and the chance to play in that preview. Ubisoft said that there will be more tests planned for the winter for those who miss out on this first one or just want another try at the game.