XDefiant got off to a surprisingly successful start to life when it dropped just a few months ago, with Ubisoft reporting impressive player numbers and dishing out the praise for its new FPS game. However, interest has dwindled over time, and there is now allegedly huge pressure on XDefiant to change its fortunes, according to a new report.
XDefiant has been one of my favorite new multiplayer games of the year. Its fast-paced gunplay and well-designed maps are reminiscent of the excellent Call of Duty games of the late 2010s, and I like its premise of pulling together all of Ubisoft’s IP for its factions. However, I have found myself playing much less of it this month than I had previously, and it seems I’m not an outlier.
According to a new report from Insider Gaming, XDefiant’s player count has dropped by a considerable amount. One of the site’s sources claims that it was at around 20,000 players across all platforms, while another suggests it is much lower, saying that Ubisoft “would probably be happy with that number.”
As a result, there is now apparently a lot of pressure on XDefiant to attract new players or convince old players to return. It has reportedly been given a deadline of Season 3 to turn things around by Ubisoft, or it risks losing its post-launch support. Insider Gaming’s sources claim that layoffs at the studio feel likely as well, should the game not start tracking upwards again.
While Season 2 is set to arrive in a few weeks time on September 23, leadership at Ubisoft San Francisco, the studio that develops XDefiant, is reportedly “betting all their money on Season 3” being the pivotal turning point. However, should the game’s seasonal cadence remain consistent, Season 3 will be dropping just a couple of weeks after the Call of Duty Black Ops 6 release date. Any annual CoD release presents fierce competition for rival shooters, but BO6 looks especially promising this year.
It is truly a shame to see interest tapering off and hear the claims in this report, because XDefiant has many of the elements you need for an enjoyable, engaging FPS game. However, one massive overarching issue that it is still yet to fully fix is its hit registration. This persistent issue results in bullets not registering as damage on opponents, or can often present itself as someone shooting you ‘around corners.’ For me, it was the biggest pain point while playing the game, and I know I’m not alone in thinking that.
I genuinely hope that people can be convinced to pick it up and play it once again – it is a free PC game after all with a low barrier to entry. However, there is a lot of competition right now in the FPS game world, so it isn’t going to be easy.
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