The FPS community has been alternatively intrigued and underwhelmed by Ubisoft’s XDefiant, a shooter meant to compete with Call of Duty and other popular franchises. One reason for dwindling excitement recently has been the game’s ever-moving launch window.
Now, it looks like XDefiant has missed yet another release date, and FPS players are beginning to lose hope for the shooter.
XDefiant misses launch date again
Throughout 2023, XDefiant was delayed multiple times. Despite this, fans remained on board since Ubisoft continued to provide transparency, and the developers promised consistent updates. Now, six months later, this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.
In fact, developers haven’t provided an update despite XDefiant apparently missing yet another release window.
Ubisoft’s Q3 2024 earnings report stated that XDefiant was scheduled to be released by the end of Q4 2024, which ends March 31. This doesn’t seem very likely since that’s just a few days away and developers haven’t said anything about it. There has not been an update on XDefiant in a very long time.
A report from Insider Gaming also claimed that a Ubisoft developer anonymously admitted the game was supposed to come out the last week of February, but that has clearly passed.
What happened to XDefiant?
So what’s causing all of these delays? The anonymous developer told Insider Gaming that the team behind the game has become “increasingly frustrated” with a lack of progress, allegedly caused by the executive’s attempt at copying Call of Duty rather than focusing on a new game concept.
This has caused issues not only with a lack of creativity but technical-wise. The source said: “The neverending hunt to chase COD and add pointless stuff always breaks the current build.”
In response to the developer leak, gamers took to social media to express frustration with the game’s delay and the concept of a Call of Duty clone. Executive producer Mark Rubin answered some of the concerns, stating that the delay is not “due to any new features” and is more focused on “tech issues.”
Rubin tweeted: “Whoever said chasing CoD in Tom’s report was major eyeroll.”
While some gamers were relieved to hear that XDefiant isn’t as focused on copying Call of Duty as previously imagined, many were still greatly frustrated with the game’s lack of a release date.
Said one fan: “Mark, I am so hyped for this game, but I think we’re hitting that point where the release is becoming a meme. Is there a window? Can we get some type of blog regarding new content? Because with this big of a wait, people are surely expecting a lot of new content.”
Added another: “Yeah Mark, this strategy is not paying off. If anything, it’s killing the hype even more. Now we know the game is having a ton of issues. Now we know the game won’t come out for a long time and even when it does it still won’t have basic features like kill cams.”
One gamer even said to just “release the game” since no game comes out perfect.
Despite all this, there is no release window for XDefiant right now.
Olivia Richman
About Olivia Richman
Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.
Kick
Kick
Twitch
Twitch
Kick
Fortnite
Kick