Ubisoft has shared a new blog post explaining the monetization for XDefiant.
So let’s get straight to the point. XDefiant is not pay to win, and everything you can pay for in the game can also be earned via gameplay. Now, we know that developers can make the grind to earn in-game items so miniscule that it’s practically oppressive, or more fun with a reasonable grind that will make you want to keep playing.
Ubisoft shared the example of DedSec, the one faction that is not playable from the start. You can unlock DedSec in the preseason by acquiring 700k XP, or through an in-game challenge. From the onset, it’s good that you have a choice other than earning experience, but it’s curious finding out what the in-game challenge is. And we don’t know how hard it would be to earn XP, so it could be something you could build up after 2 hours of playing, or 20 hours.
We already know that XDefiant will have a battle pass. On top of that, other paid content include character and weapon cosmetics, player card backgrounds, player animations, emoji in packs, and apparently, even more faction unlocks. We’ll see if that means something unexpected like the Na’vi, or just one more faction in one of their Tom Clancy games.
On the free side of the table is the free battle pass, daily and weekly challenges, Ubisoft Connect challenges, community participation rewards, and something called weapon mastery. They say this will come with weapon updates, but that’s obviously not a lot of information to go on.
They also explain the customization options, which clearly follow the lead of other games like Fortnite and Halo Infinite in focusing on the social aspect of the game. You can customize emoji and player animations, alongside player cards, as well as character and weapon skins.
All of these decisions are clearly going to be important to XDefiant‘s success. Ubisoft also made sure to state that they intend to keep tweaking the game to player satisfaction. That’s what we do expect from live service games.
That the XDefiant team felt the need to emphasize it does suggest that they expect the fans to complain about something in the game. Maybe that’s normal for live service titles too, but you do have to wonder if there’s something more to it.
XDefiant is releasing on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Windows via Ubisoft Connect, on May 21, 2024.
