The long awaited free-to-play shooter XDefiant has been delayed yet again. Ubisoft San Francisco has revealed that the title is no longer launching sometime this month, and that the Preseason will no longer be ready in time. However, it seems like the studio has much more to figure out as they did not provide an updated release date or time frame. This essentially means that XDefiant is now delayed indefinitely, which is a rather unfortunate situation given that we were weeks, if not days away from getting our hands on it.
As you can see in the X post above, the studio decided to delay the game again was due to “inconsistencies” that apparently were brought up during their most recent Public Test Session (PTS). The post adds that they will continue to address and fix the issues with more testing in order to keep their goal with “being a best-in-class arcade shooter.” Executive Producer Mark Rubin also chimed in on the situation with his own post saying that the game was “feeling off.” He also added that the in-game sliding was “nerfed or clunkier” along with some frame spikes during matches.
Rubin expresses regret that they had to delay the title when the supposed launch time frame was very close, but also added that he would “rather ship a game that is better for everyone.” The game was announced back in July 2021 as Tom Clancy’s XDefiant, before losing the Tom Clancy name and instead being promoted as an original Ubisoft title. It was given launch for Summer 2023, but was delayed until sometime in October. With yet another delay, and this time with no date in sight, the chances of seeing it released before the end of the year are not exactly high. Still, the studio could have those issues fixed in short order and have it ready to go by the holidays.