In XDefiant, players must choose their faction and loadout, both before the match begins and at any time they wish upon respawning, allowing them to adapt to the evolving fight. Factions offer a choice of two active abilities, as well as one passive buff, and an ultra ability that must be charged up during the match. Libertad excels at healing support thanks to their BioVida medication; the Cleaners use fire to burn away their enemies; Echelon (Splinter Cell) uses stealth technology to reveal enemy locations and render themselves invisible on enemy maps; the Phantoms use their advanced training and technology to block damage; and DedSec uses their technological expertise to hack enemy gadgets and sic spiderbots on unsuspecting opponents. At launch, DedSec will be locked, as will two of the other faction's playable characters, but all can be earned by completing in-game missions.

Loadouts in XDefiant consist of a primary and secondary weapon, as well as a grenade. Assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, marksman rifles, and sniper rifles all offer different strengths in combat, and players can customize their weapons with a wide range of attachments to fine tune each weapon's performance, including sights, grips, stocks, magazines, and barrel and muzzle attachments. Using a weapon will earn weapon XP progress towards unlocking new customization options.

Game modes in XDefiant fall into one of two categories: Arena and Linear. Arena-style matches include Domination, where teams fight to control three fixed zones; Occupy, where teams fight to control one zone that periodically moves around the map; and HotShot, where players fight to get the most KOs. However, in HotShot, points are only granted (or denied) when players collect tags from fallen foes (or allies); furthermore, the player currently holding the most tags becomes the HotShot and is granted a host of speed buffs, but is marked on the map for all to see.

Linear matches, on the other hand, cast players in attacking or defending roles. In Zone Control, the attacking team works to secure five zones in a progression across the map, and the defenders fight to stop them. In Escort, the attacking team must bring a package to its final destination across the map, while the defenders attempt to stymie their progress, and even push the package back.

Dark days at Ubisoft as the French developer/publisher not only announced it is shutting down XDefiant (after repeatedly denying rumours), but also that it is shutting down its San Francisco and Osaka production studios and ramping down the Sydney production headcount, resulting in aprox. 270 departures/layoffs.

Hello XDefiant Fans,

I am unfortunately here today to announce that XDefiant will be shutting down.

Starting today (December 3, 2024), new downloads and player registrations will no longer be available. We will still release our Season 3 content in the near future (exact date TBD) and the servers will remain active until June 3, 2025.

For those who purchased the Ultimate Founder's Pack, you'll receive a full refund. Players who made any purchases within the last 30 days will also be fully refunded. Those refunds should happen automatically within 8 weeks of today and you can find more details on our official website, XDefiant.com.

A few years ago, Ubisoft and the SF Dev team embarked on a bold adventure to develop a new arcade shooter called XDefiant. It was from the start, an incredible challenge. Not only were we trying to shake up the genre by removing Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM) while bringing back a more “old-school” arcade shooter experience, but we were also diving into the high-risk, high-reward realm of free-to-play. And for that I want to applaud not only the Dev team but also Ubisoft leadership for taking that chance!

Free-to-play, in particular, is a long journey. Many free-to-play games take a long time to find their footing and become profitable. It’s a long journey that Ubisoft and the teams working on the game were prepared to make until very recently. But unfortunately, the journey became too much to sensibly continue.

I am, of course, heartbroken to have to be writing this post. Yes, this game has been a personal passion for me for years and yes, I know that not all challenges lead to victory, but I also want to recognize all of the developers who are being affected by this closure. Each and every one of them is a real person with a real life separate from our own and they have all put so much of their own passion into making this game. And I hope that they can be proud of what they did achieve. I know that I will always be proud and grateful to have worked with such a great team! A team that really punched above its weight class.

And what they achieved is truly remarkable. The early response from players when XDefiant launched was amazing—we broke internal records for the fastest game to surpass 5 million users and in the end we had over 15 million players play our game! That is something to be extremely proud of, especially considering how tough this genre is. So, thank you to all of the developers who put their passion into making this game!

If there's one thing, I hope we can all take away from this experience, it's the importance of open, honest communication between developers and players. This "player first" mentality along with respectful, non-toxic conversations between developers and players has been one of the standout differences that made XDefiant so special. From my very first post about XDefiant, this was the vision I wanted to champion, and I hope it leaves a positive mark on how the game industry treats its players and communities.

To our players, THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, I want to express my deepest gratitude for the incredible community that has grown around XDefiant. Your passion, creativity, and dedication have inspired us every step of the way.

With the utmost of love and respect,
Mark

Additional features include:

• Personalized Playstyle: Players can personalize their Defiant to match their playstyle. Players can choose a faction with unique traits, abilities and ultra, then select from an arsenal of primary and secondary weapons, attachments, and a device to complete their loadout – and even tweak it on the fly (after respawning) to adapt to an ever-changing battlefield.
• Competitive Clashes: The game offers a variety of competitive 6-v-6 arena and linear game modes, such as Domination and Escort. Combine that with a large pool of uniquely designed maps in rotation and no two matches will feel the same.
• Diverse Factions of Defiants: XDefiant will initially feature factions such as the Wolves (Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon), Echelon (Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell) and the Outcasts and Cleaners (Tom Clancy’s The Division) battling across iconic locations. Additional Defiants will be added as the game evolves, drawing on a range of characters and abilities from the Tom Clancy universe … and beyond.

XDefiant is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.