Initially meant to release in 2023, avid FPS fans were made to wait nearly a year—but Ubisoft’s answer to Call of Duty in XDefiant finally arrived in May 2024.
For those out of the loop, XDefiant is a free-to-play shooter created by former CoD devs now working at Ubisoft. The game aims to deliver a more fun and varied experience without skill-based matchmaking in casual modes, adding a classic prestige system and a lineup of agents with unique abilities.
When did XDefiant release?
After multiple delays and months of waiting, XDefiant launched on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The preload for the game was made available a few days earlier.
There were some server issues despite the earlier server stress test’s success in late April, but for the most part, it was a solid launch for the title, with many players expressing their surprise at the improvements made since the very first beta back in mid-2023.
That’s not to say the game was without its problems. Many players reported issues with XDefiant‘s netcode and faults in matchmaking, as some couldn’t even find matches depending on the platform they were playing on. A couple of weapons and abilities were also disabled early on due to game-breaking bugs.
But after getting over the initial humps, XDefiant is off and racing, with developers Ubisoft remaining committed to rolling out updates and patches to improve the game and add additional content like battle passes, new weapons, and cosmetics.
