Ubisoft’s latest investor meeting finally revealed a release window for XDefiant, but several FPS community members argue that a golden opportunity has already been squandered.
XDefiant encountered more roadblocks in development than initially expected. Ubisoft originally planned to launch the multiplayer FPS project in “late summer” last year, but a submission process snafu pushed the release date back.
Then, in October, inconsistencies emerging in public tests resulted in another delay. Public sentiment suffered another substantial blow soon after as party system and netcode issues officially eliminated any sliver of hope for a 2023 release. After months of being left in the dark, players finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, but that hasn’t helped ease doubts.
XDefiant scheduled to release before the end of March
Fan account XDefiant Alerts revealed that the game will officially launch sometime before March 31. In one of the documents from Ubisoft’s investor meeting, XDefiant: Season 0 is listed on the developers release schedule from January through March. But instead of celebrating the announcement, community members still have a sour taste in their mouth from the troublesome development process.
“Timing is everything and unfortunately Ubisoft missed the mark with XDefiant,” CoD content creator DougDagnabbit summed up the negative sentiment. If XDefiant released when originally scheduled in late summer, it would have had months without having to go up against Modern Warfare 3, which launched in November. Instead, Ubisoft will compete with MW3 in the middle of its life cycle, and community members can’t seem to let that go.
Frustrations stem from XDefiant being forced to up against stiff competition, but also from players already being let down multiple times, after multiple delays unexpectedly reared their ugly heads. “We’ve gone through this at least 3 times already,” one frustrated player responded.
Ubisoft did not reveal an exact release date for XDefiant, but the long drama-filled saga appears to be reaching a conclusion.
