XDefiant Executive Producer Mark Rubin has gone on Twitter to defend his game.
Mark felt the need to defend his game after he was asked upfront by a fan if the game was rushed. Now, we need to remember that Ubisoft announced the free-to-play multiplayer shooter in July 2021, and shared news about a closed insider test that October.
The game’s official release date was May 21, 2024, so that was a good three years that we know that the game was in development. But of course, it’s reasonable to assume that development stated before July 2021, as Ubisoft would have needed to see how the game shaped up for a few months before they were confident enough to announce it.
In fact, if you just do some sleuthing within this time frame, you will rediscover that Ubisoft has been muddling with different original online multiplayer game ideas for some time now. Hyper Scape was a free-to-play battle royale that released in 2020 and immediately lost steam in 2022.
There were also two rumored and cancelled projects, named Pathfinder and Project U. Both games were vaguely described as PvE multiplayer shooters, and there was even a point where we reported on the possibility that they were actually the same game.
But we live in the world where XDefiant has been around for two months, and the game is still finding its bearings and has already lost some players. This is a vital time for the game, as its ability to rebound with improvements and new attractions will determine if it will be a long term success.
With all of this in mind, let’s now look at Mark’s response to this claim, from his Twitter account:
“Rushed out? No.
What we have is an engine that has only ever been an MMO. And so all of the infrastructure for an FPS has had to be built up from the ground floor. Even CoD started on ID tech which was a shooter engine. Apex started on a shooter engine. But for us we are working on developing all new tech in an engine that was designed for something else.
That being said the engine is really great but it does require a lot of work and with that work comes a lot of bugs that other engines have already worked out. We’re not a shooter that’s been out for 20 years.
If you like what we are trying to do stick around and you’ll see things improve and new features get added. But if the game isn’t for you that’s ok you can move on.”
We will let you decide how you take Mark’s statement, but we will at least explain what he is talking about on the game engine. XDefiant runs on Snowdrop, a game engine built by Ubisoft Massive and first used for Tom Clancy’s The Division.
While both games are multiplayer shooters, Mark’s claim that Snowdrop was originally built for something else is credible, if not something you can just accept as true. XDefiant does not have a massive open world, but it’s obvious that it can absolutely be adapted to making a Call of Duty style shooter.
If you were reading this hoping to be told if you should keep playing XDefiant or not, there is no answer here and you have to decide for yourself. Mark has given you permission to stop playing if you aren’t enjoying it. That statement comes with a confidence that if they fix the game enough, players will stay and join in, and some will even come back. So now, it’s up to you.
