The Game Awards 2021 have ended and dozens of reveals and announcements have been made. One of those announcements came from CrossfireX, the South Korean free-to-play multiplayer game first confirmed for western release as far back as X019 Xbox event. Despite Crossfire X's substantial delays since, it appears that Smilegate Entertainment is now ready to confirm a final release date -- including for Remedy Entertainment's single-player campaign.
As announced at The Game Awards 2021, CrossfireX's release date has been confirmed to be February 10, 2022. The new trailer shown at The Game Awards also re-confirmed that CrossfireX will be launching on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, with no other platforms confirmed at the moment. Launch will include both CrossfireX's multiplayer and single-player campaign. More updates are planned to be delivered in the months between now and CrossfireX's release date.
Despite the excitement of CrossfireX's release date, there are still some aspects of the game's launch that remain unclear if not deliberately confusing. CrossfireX's multiplayer was announced as free-to-play, but there's notably no mention of that in the trailer. There's also no mention of how CrossfireX's single-player campaign will be dealt with, if it'll also be free-to-play, if it'll be premium, or if it'll be made available through Xbox Game Pass on PC or console. The lack of detail has left many of those interested in playing CrossfireX with misconceptions.
What is clear is that CrossfireX can be looked at as an upgraded version of the classic Crossfire multiplayer experience. That means the game is akin to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in terms of first-person shooter action. Two teams will compete in objective-based game modes, with each round of a match featuring a single life and the need to purchase upgraded weaponry and gear.
As for the single-player element of CrossfireX, it's said to have been built by Remedy in the same engine it used for Control. Two missions are said to be included in the game at launch, named Operation Catalyst and Operation Spectre, which will revolve around a corporate military organization named Global Risk and a terrorist group named Black List.
While CrossfireX may not have shaken up the industry in the west, the original Crossfire release had an audience of over 650 million registered players in the east. Smilegate is hoping to build on that audience with new western players with the release of CrossfireX. That may be challenging, however, with serious competition from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Riot's Valorant, not to mention its Xbox exclusivity.
Crossfire X releases February 16 on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.