The free-to-play first-person shooter game XDefiant is reportedly doing big numbers already. According to Tom Henderson, the game has become the fastest ever made by Ubisoft to surpass one million unique players. In fact, it has already managed to break through the three million unique player milestone.
It goes without saying that XDefiant is currently outperforming even Ubisoft’s rosiest expectations. However, the big question with a live service game like this is whether it can retain players’ interest over time. While Call of Duty Modern Warfare III has certainly underwhelmed, the same might not be true for 2024’s title, which has just been confirmed to be Black Ops 6.
Ubisoft already shared the game’s Year 1 roadmap, which will see the introduction of ranked mode and private matches, new arena and progression modes, a welcome list for beginners, practice zones, and ongoing anti-cheat improvements. There will also be four seasons, each coming with three new weapons, three new maps, 90 tiers of Battle Pass, and a new faction. The four factions being added in Year 1 are codenamed Ruby, Buzz, Orchard, and Horde.
For now, the game includes the following content:
- 14 maps inspired by other Ubisoft titles
- Five Ubisoft franchise-inspired factions (one faction to be earned or purchased): Cleaners from The Division, Libertad from Far Cry, Echelon from Splinter Cell, Phantoms from Ghost Recon, and Dedsec from Watch Dogs
- 24 weapons
- 44 attachments
- Five devices
- Two game modes: Arena and Linear
- Arena includes Domination, where teams fight to control three fixed zones; Occupy, in which teams fight to control one zone that periodically moves around the map; and HotShot, where players fight to get the most KOs.
- Linear includes Zone Control, where the attacking team works to secure five zones in a progression across the map while defenders must fight to stop them, and Escort, where the attacking team must bring a package to its final destination across the map while the defenders attempt to stymie their progress, and even push the package back.
XDefiant also encountered some of the usual launch title snags, such as server issues, although the developers appear to be on top of that.
Have you been playing this game yet? If so, what do you think of it?
