Ubisoft’s XDefiant hits 11 million players in less than two months

XDefiant, a Ubisoft first-person shooter game launched on May 21, has reached 11 million players, according to Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot. Yves released this information during an interview published on Ubisoft’s blog on June 27, involving several updates about the company and its games’ future. 

XDefiant is a free-to-play shooter game that garnered over 1 million unique players within the first hours of its preseason launch. The company also introduced a challenge for players to hit 25 million weapon damage points through Ubisoft Connect. Several reports on X showed that gamers hit this mark and exceeded it by over 130x to hit 3.3 billion.

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Considering the numbers continued to rise during the first week post-launch, XDefiant claimed a place among top FPS games, such as Call of Duty and Fortnite. Players can enjoy the game on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC. 

Earlier in the month, Ubisoft discussed the XDefiant Season 1 update at the June 2024 Ubisoft Forward event hosted during the 2024 Summer Game Fest. XDefiant is only one among the several games Ubisoft touched on, including Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Star Wars Outlaws, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and Anno 117: Pax Romana.

Ubisoft prepares for XDefiant Season 1 update

According to Yves, XDefiant Season 1 will introduce more features and upgrades to the game to improve players’ overall experience. Ubisoft’s CEO believed that with all the work being put into the game, the number of players will increase beyond 11 million.

A tweet on XDefiant’s official X account assured players of new maps, factions, modes, and more. The update will also launch Ranked Play from Ranked Mode Practice Playlist with new rewards and more. 

Summer’s got nothing on the heat XDefiant is bringing in Season 1!

🔥 New faction- GSK
🔥 New maps- Clubhouse, Daytona, Rockefeller
🔥 New Mode- Capture the Flag
🔥 Play the game in the next 48 hours and get 3 free ERUPTION weapon skins!
🔥 Season 1 coming in HOT July 2! pic.twitter.com/jsTSDfUtkZ

— XDefiant (@PlayXDefiant) June 10, 2024

While Ubisoft’s CEO believes XDefiant has a long way to go with continuous updates for the future, he expressed his wish for XDefiant to become a ‘serious eSport.’ Yves further commented that XDefiant has more promise for the future and has no limits to how far the game can expand. 

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Yves applauded the Ubisoft team working on the game and their focus on implementing player feedback to ensure better upgrades. He also hoped the company would continue making better decisions and sticking to them as Ubisoft updated XDefiant.

Yves believes embracing tech will evolve the gaming industry

 Yves touched on the growing technological space and its influence on the gaming industry. He explained that new technology created more gateways for expansion for developers and players. 

What excites me, and what has always excited me, is new technology and the potential it can bring for our developers and, of course, for our players.

Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft’s CEO

Yves appreciated the compatibility of games with previous and current consoles. However, he discussed that faster hardware evolution and embracing generative AI and cloud would allow Ubisoft and other gaming companies to create more outstanding experiences for gamers.

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Cryptopolitan reporting by Collins J. Okoth