Highlights

  • XDefiant has attracted 11 million players and is Ubisoft's fastest game to reach a million unique players.
  • CEO Yves Guillemot believes player base will grow with Season 1 update on July 2.
  • Guillemot also hopes to see XDefiant become a serious esports game.

Ubisoft's XDefiant has drawn in 11 million players, according to the publisher's top executive. XDefiant was met with mixed reviews and encountered server issues following its full launch on May 21.

Featuring elements of several popular Ubisoft IPs like Far Cry and Watch Dogs, XDefiant is a free-to-play arena shooter that pits teams of six against each other in a variety of game modes. The title attracted a million unique players within the first three hours of its release, making it the fastest Ubisoft game to reach the milestone. Ubisoft recently revealed that XDefiant's player base has grown exponentially since launching, and the company expects this trend to continue moving forward.

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In an interview posted on the Ubisoft blog on June 27, company CEO Yves Guillemot claimed that XDefiant has managed to attract 11 million players. He believes that this number will only increase as Ubisoft continues to work on making sure that XDefiant's Season 1 update, which is scheduled to go live on July 2, introduces more content to the game. Guillemot had been asked to reveal Ubisoft's approach to ensuring that its games stand out from the crowd, to which he responded that the company needs to listen closely to its players and make well-informed decisions on where to focus its efforts.

XDefiant Player Base as of June 2024

Further into the interview, Guillemot pointed out that he would love to see XDefiant develop as a serious esports game. The Ubisoft head said that there are no limits to the future of its free-to-play FPS, pointing out that it is currently being handled by a team that listens and communicates with its players. Ubisoft has tried to make another competitive title, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, which is considered by many to be one of the best tactical shooters of all time, into a serious esports experience.

Unlike Rainbow Six Siege, a game known for its steep learning curve and high skill floor, XDefiant is much more friendly to beginners. There are essentially only five classes in XDefiant, while Rainbow Six Siege currently has 73 unique playable operators after the addition of the reworked recruits, Sentry and Striker, in June's Operation New Blood update.

Three Rainbow Six Siege operators, namely the GSG 9 members Blitz, Jager, and IQ, will be introduced in XDefiant's Season 1 update as part of the new GSK faction. This upcoming build will also add three maps, three weapons, and a game mode to the free-to-play title.