XDefiant dev denies “chasing CoD” rumor & shares update is coming soon

XDefiant dev has responded to the recent rumors suggesting that the game kept getting delayed because it was chasing CoD, and has confirmed that an update on the release is happening soon. 

Ubisoft’s highly anticipated shooter, XDefiant, was supposed to be released sometime before the end of March 2024, but with the said deadline moments away, it is all but confirmed that the title isn’t meeting its tentative schedule yet again. 

Fans are pretty desperate for any sort of hint at the release date, but players will have to wait a little longer as the recent rumor claims that the game is a “good few months from release” and that these delays are due to a “neverending hunt to chase COD.”

However, Mark Rubin, executive producer of XDefiant, has denied these claims and announced that we’ll get a new update soon enough. 

Ubisoft's Mark Rubin is now attempting to clean up some of the rumors, claiming that they are not chasing Call of Duty with XDefiant, but provides no release update besides "tech issues" for delays. pic.twitter.com/v5vljxqYEd

— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) March 23, 2024

On March 23, Insider Gaming reported on the current status of XDefiant. Per Insider Gaming, the shooter has missed “dozens of internal targets” in the past few years. Speaking to IG, some devs at Ubisoft shared why the game keeps getting delayed: “The neverending hunt to chase COD and add pointless stuff always breaks the current build.”

Mark Rubin has denied chasing CoD or anything as such, and claimed that the main reason for delays is “tech issues.” He further clarified what their inspirations are while developing XDefiant, “… we were aiming at a different time in FPS history i.e. older CoDs. So are we ‘chasing’ older CoDs? To some degree but we don’t want to be like what the newer CoDs are like.”

In a separate Twitter thread, Mark issued a statement and said that there would be an update on the game very soon.  

We have an update coming soon. (probably this coming week) I know we've been silent because to be honest there isn't much to talk about. I know people just want to see the game ship and so do we.

— Mark Rubin (@PixelsofMark) March 23, 2024

He again reassured fans that they’ll not tail modern CoD, “I can confirm that no push has been made to put SBMM into the game.”

On a more positive note, Insider Gaming did say XDefiant is far from being canned by Ubisoft. So while it’ll be a long wait, we’ll eventually get our hands on the shooter. 

Hopefully, the upcoming update will shed some light on a potential release. Until then, check out what the devs said about a potential Steam release as well as details on all Factions.