XDefiant treats us to an open beta and shows us on a roadmap how the CoD killer is to continue.
The arena shooter XDefiant is a great hope for many FPS lovers and could turn into a real nightmare for the CoD developers. Already during its first and extremely successful beta phase in April, the game was able to prove its strengths.
Open Beta
XDefiant definitely couldn’t complain about a lack of interest after the results of the closed beta. More than a million players shot through the maps of the new arena shooter in mid-April, probably causing a bead or two of sweat on the foreheads of the CoD developers.
The great success even led to the developers deciding to extend the beta phase by a few days without further ado.
Thanks to the over 1 million players who joined us for our Closed Beta! As we gear up for the Open Session coming June 21-23, check out some of our team’s favorite moments. pic.twitter.com/uF9qjITXJp
– XDefiant (@PlayXDefiant) June 12, 2023
After it got a little quieter in the last few weeks around the shooter already dubbed by many FPS pros as a CoD killer, the developers got in touch on 12 June with new information that should sweeten the wait until release a little bit.
From 21 to 23 June all players who have previously registered on the (website of XDefiant) can take part in an Open Session and shoot their way through the maps for two days.
As with the closed beta in April, all platforms can once again be part of the game. Both PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S can take part in the beta and once again wield controllers or mouse and keyboard.
Roadmap presented
Just like Rainbow Six: Siege, Ubisoft has long-term plans for XDefiant and clearly still has big plans for the arena shooter. At the same time as the announcement of the open beta phase between 21 and 23 June, the official Twitter account published the roadmap for the first year.
The first year of XDefiant will be divided into four seasons, each of which will introduce three new weapons and maps respectively. In addition, there will be a Battle Pass
with 90 levels each, new game modes, a special ranked mode, the introduction of an anti-cheat system and features like Caster Cams, which will be used in tournaments.
XDefiant is planning to launch later this Summer, but that’s just the start for XDefiant. Here’s a preview of what’s in store for Year 1! 💥 📈 pic.twitter.com/3oGnbX8giL
– XDefiant (@PlayXDefiant) June 12, 2023
So, unlike Activision’s annual release cycle of Call of Duty, Ubisoft is betting on XDefiant for the long term and leaning more towards Warzone 2 and its free-to-play model.
Whether the game will really become a CoD killer, as many suspect, remains to be seen, after all, this title has already been awarded to many shooters in the past, most of which have disappeared again into oblivion.
By the way, Ubisoft is still silent about a planned release date. In one of their tweets, the responsible persons only spoke of a release later in the summer.
