XDefiant Devs Share Update on Release Plans

XDefiant is still on track to release this year, but the developer revealed it may take a bit longer than expected.

XDefiant has been hosting various betas for quite a while now, with the most recent taking place in late June. Following that, the development team at Ubisoft San Francisco announced that it planned to release the full game this summer, while also sharing the Year 1 Roadmap that includes four seasons of content. Recently, Ubisoft executive producer Mark Rubin took to Twitter to explain that XDefiant is still slated to come out relatively soon, but the team is having some difficulties with certification because of updates they've made to the current build.

Rubin made it clear that the reason XDefiant is getting what seems to be a slight delay is that the team used the beta period to greatly improve the game. That means that cert is getting what is essentially a brand-new build for testing when usually the build from the beta would be very similar. Essentially, Ubisoft made big changes to its engine following the XDefiant beta and now all of those changes to make it through cert yet again before they're able to launch the game.

Unfortunately, Rubin doesn't really have any update on the release date. While the team is "still on track," things could easily change when they hear back from their partners about the build's submission status. Hopefully, everything goes smoothly and fans have XDefiant in their hands later this summer, but they may have to wait a little longer than expected if there are any issues. Fortunately, with Rubin being so upfront about what's going on with the community about this process, we'll probably know almost as soon as Ubisoft does if XDefiant is having problems getting through certification.

Even if we have to wait a bit longer to play XDefiant, the Year 1 Roadmap shows that Ubisoft has plenty of content planned. Each season will have new weapons, maps, and a battle pass, and the team is working on larger updates that should roll out alongside the seasons. These include things like ranked mode, practice zones, and better tools to welcome beginners to the battlefield. When XDefiant launches, it will come to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.