XDefiant interview: The origins of Ubisoft's crossover shooter

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After being shunned for a while, Ubisoft's XDefiant has become one of its promising new games. The company recently added the title to its release schedule for fiscal year 2023-24, which means it should be out in the coming months. GamesBeat had the opportunity to speak with XDefiant Director of Live Operations CeeCee Smith about how the game has taken shape during its development cycle.

Smith told GamesBeat that Ubisoft intended to create a shooter that could leverage player feedback more directly. "We knew we wanted to create a 6v6 arena shooter that depended on and evolved from player feedback. That's something the games we've worked on in the past haven't really taken advantage of - because in the past was this annual iteration timeline. Now, especially since we're a free-to-play, more into this games-as-a-service environment, we have the ability to do that now."

The main idea behind XDefiant is that it's a cross between some of Ubisoft's biggest franchises. Splinter Cell, Far Cry, and The Division are some of the franchises represented. Smith said: "Looking at all the different Ubisoft IPs, I think it made sense to us: 'What if we took The Division cleaners and gave them an ultra flamethrower? "Once we looked at it in that holistic way, that's how it fell into place."

During the closed beta, Ubisoft reiterated the game in response to player feedback, with new fixes continuously being rolled out for issues. Patrick "Aches" Price said in a post mortem that the community is finding new and interesting ways to play and that some factions are more popular than the company had expected.

“We wanted to make a game that had that old-school arcade-style feeling. And for a lot of gamers, XDefiant brought a lot of nostalgia, which is something you don't usually say about a new IP” , Price said, "The reception has inspired our team to keep improving the game, which will be our focus from now until launch and beyond."

Naturally, we asked Smith about XDefiant's future plans. She said that, for the time being, the developer plans to fix the basics of the game based on player feedback. "It's about being open and looking at it as a whole... We've already made some really big changes to the game based on player feedback, and hopefully we'll continue to do so."

Smith couldn't confirm any future factions, but added that the company is also adding other elements from Ubisoft's franchises through in-game maps. She also said the game is a love letter to Ubisoft's biggest franchises, especially since it retired the Tom Clancy brand. "Removing the Tom Clancy name opens up a whole host of opportunities for us to access other IPs like Watch Dogs. It was a huge opportunity for us to branch out."

XDefiant is set to make an appearance at Ubisoft's Forward summer event, taking place next week.

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