XDefiant Has Been Delayed After Failing PlayStation and Xbox Quality Checks

XDefiant failed its compliance tests on PlayStation and Xbox, leading to a delay.

By Ricky Frech

XDefiant has taken a relatively strange path to release. The upcoming free-to-play shooter from Ubisoft has held several betas over the last few months, giving fans a chance to test it out. This isn't weird, but because of how open the process has been, Ubisoft has been hesitant to share a firm release date. The team has been taking feedback from the various betas to improve and XDefiant in important ways. With that in mind, XDefiant's director Mark Rubin announced today that the game is being semi-delayed. Now, it's important to note that the game didn't have a firm release date to begin with, but its release window has been pushed back by at least a few weeks.

The reason for this delay is that XDefiant has failed its compliance tests. This is a series of tests that every game must pass on every platform it plans to release on. If a game doesn't pass the test, then it gets the go-ahead to ship on those platforms. Ubisoft sent XDefiant's build off for its tests at the end of July and learned in mid-August that it didn't pass compliance. Since then, the team has been working for around a month to get the game up to snuff before sending the build off for another test here in a few weeks. 

If XDefiant passes that test, it would then be clear to ship sometime toward the end of September, but Rubin says another scenario could see them getting a "conditional pass," which would mean they could ship the game as long as it includes a Day 1 patch. If that happens, XDefiant's release date will be pushed back to "early/mid-October." As you can see, it's all up in the air right now with no real concrete information about exactly when XDefiant will be available for players. That said, as long something catastrophic doesn't happen, players should be hoping in by mid-October at the latest. 

What is XDefiant?

XDefiant is a free-to-play first-person shooter. Players will have access to all kinds of different characters, each with their own abilities. These characters will come from different factions, which also have their own specific sets of skills. Those factions pull from several of Ubisoft's fan-favorite franchises including Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and The Division. While they won't be available at launch, Ubisoft already has plans to incorporate factions from Far Cry and Watch Dogs as well.

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Matches take place in six-on-six multiplayer combat. Just like the 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 doesn't currently have a firm release date, but it will launch on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms when it can finally pass those compliance tests.

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