Despite a string of successful playtests last year, Ubisoft’s newest shooter, XDefiant, has struggled to reach the finish line. April is nearly here, and we are still waiting for the game’s release date.
The dev team recently jumped on Twitter/X and provided a short update. The good news? A worldwide Stress Test is being planned across consoles and PC as the team gears up for the game’s launch.
Here’s part of what the developers said:
“We’re finishing preparation for a 12-hour Server Test Session that will be worldwide on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The goal of this test is to stress our servers and get critical data to prepare us for launch.”
Once this test is wrapped up, “we expect to be able to lock a launch date and start sharing more about the exciting content XDefiant has to offer in the future,” says the developers.
If you haven’t been keeping up with XDefiant, it’s a first-person shooter reminiscent of more classic Call of Duty-style games. Its factions pull from across the Ubisoft IP library, including Far Cry, Splinter Cell, The Division, and Watch Dogs. This two-minute trailer will give you a good idea of how it looks and plays.
I played it last year, and it’s a competent shooter. I wonder if it can find the enormous success Ubisoft is most likely looking for. Still, it should have no issues assembling a decently sized fanbase that longs for a more old-school shooter. I doubt it will get as popular as Rainbow Six: Siege, but it should still do ok. That is, if they can release the game.
A recent report touched on what’s described as a “toxic work environment” at the studio and also talked about the dev team’s struggle with XDefiant’s netcode, which is also the main reason for the game’s upcoming stress test.
Hopefully, the team gets it together soon before the inevitable marketing campaign for the next Call of Duty kicks off and overshadows it.