There was no shortage of skepticism surrounding XDefiant in the lead-up to its release, and as many expected, as far as its critical reception was concerned, Ubisoft’s free-to-play multiplayer shooter didn’t make much of a mark upon its May release. In spite of that, however, it seems like the game has got off to a solid start in terms of player numbers regardless.
As revealed by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot in an interview published on the company’s official website, XDefiant has crossed 11 million players across all platforms since its release a little over a month ago. Prior reports had claimed that the game attracted over 8 million players in its launch week.
“We need to continue to listen closely to our players and make well-informed decisions on where to focus our efforts, because if you succeed at GaaS, you can succeed for the long-term,” Guillemot said when asked about Ubisoft’s ambitions in the live service space. “Let’s look at XDefiant. There’s a lot of work to do, but it was able to attract 11 million players in a short time. And that number will increase with all the work done by the team to ensure Season One brings a lot more to the existing experience. It’s about making the right choices and sticking to them.”
Asked about what Ubisoft is looking for from XDefiant in the future, Guillemot said that the game still has “a long way to go”, and that the development team intends to keep working with the community to further improve the experience.
“Well, outside of it being continually updated, with different experiences and optimized gameplay, I’d love to see it as a serious esport,” he said. “But really, for a game like this, there’s no limit to its future. And we’ve got a fantastic team on it, who are listening to our players and communicating with them, which is so crucial. We’ve started off strong, but there’s still a long way to go, and I’m excited for us to step up to the challenge.”
XDefiant is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The shooter’s first season of post-launch content is set to kick off on July 2. Read more on that through here.
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