Amid ongoing player complaints and claims Ubisoft’s free-to-play shooter XDefiant is underperforming, the publisher has insisted the game is “absolutely not dying” as it unveils plans to tackle a range of issues in an updated development roadmap.
Ubisoft shared XDefiant’s latest roadmap in a newly published blog post, starting with an update on the game’s netcode and hitreg issues, and admitting it “still [has] a ways to go” as far as improvements are concerned. “I just want to quickly address the status of the game. i.e. is the game dying?,” the author then wrote. “No, the game is absolutely not dying. We know there are things we need to improve like Netcode/Hitreg and adding more content to progression, but the game is doing well. We just want it to do better. And we do that by addressing the concerns of our community which has always been the plan.”
The post continued, “Ubisoft is very much behind us and has allocated more resources to the team in order for us to do that.” To that end, the accompanying roadmap promises “a lot of new content and features” for XDefiant’s first year, ending in its “biggest ever event”.
According to Ubisoft’s roadmap, Seasons 2, 3, and 4 will all feature a new faction, three new weapons, three new maps, and new limited time modes, with more specific inclusions – such as the arrival of Bots mode, Bomb! mode, and private matches – also mentioned. Additionally, there’s talk of numerous planned improvements, including battle pass progression speed changes, plus mantle, player collision, footstep audio improvements – which come alongside ongoing work on netcode and hitreg.
Ubisoft’s update follows a slump in its share price that’s been partially attributed to lower-than-expected interest in XDefiant, and comes after player claims the shooter was “rushed out”. Responding to the latter suggestion back in July, XDefiant producer Mark Rubin insisted that wasn’t the case – instead blaming teething troubles on a game engine “that was designed for something else”, and admitting to “a lot of bugs”.
“We’re not a shooter that’s been out for 20 years,” continued Rubin. “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.”