XDefiant producer says players should “stick around” but admits right now there are “a lot of bugs”
XDefiant producer Mark Rubin has told players it’s “okay to move on” if the game “isn’t for you”, but disputed claims the game was “rushed out” to avoid releasing at the same time as other big games.
Responding to an X/Twitter post in which a fan suggested the shooter was “rushed out because of GTA 6 and Call of Duty Black Ops 6”, Rubin – who has previously worked on Call of Duty games – was quick to refute the claim, saying: “Rushed out? No”.
“What we have is an engine that has only ever been an MMO,” Rubin said. “And so all of the infrastructure for an FPS has had to be built up from the ground floor. Even CoD started on ID tech which was a shooter engine. Apex started on a shooter engine.
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“But for us we are working on developing all new tech in an engine that was designed for something else.”
After saying that the engine XDefiant uses is “really great but does require a lot of work”, Rubin then acknowledged that as the engine hadn’t been designed for shooters, “with that work comes a lot of bugs”.
“The engine is really great, but it does require a lot of work and with that work comes a lot of bugs that other engines have already worked out,” Rubin said.
“We’re not a shooter that’s been out for 20 years. If you like what we are trying to do stick around and you’ll see things improve and new features get added. But if the game isn’t for you that’s ok you can move on.”
Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy-adjacent free-to-play shooter XDefiant finally launched for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on 21st May, after a couple of delays. It was initially revealed as Tom Clancy’s XDefiant back in 2021, but Ubisoft later announced it was dropping the prefix following criticism from Tom Clancy fans who felt XDefiant’s flamboyant action strayed too far from the franchise’s more serious military themes.
