Is XDefiant dying? Downfall of Call of Duty killer explained

XDefiant's survival is a hot topic in the gaming community as fans of the FPS genre are intrigued to know about the current state of Ubisoft's latest FPS. The game had an incredible launch on May 21, 2024, with almost 8 million players during its early launch, but due to some shortcomings, the numbers fell to nearly 20,000 concurrent users.

The article takes a look at some of the key factors that led to the downfall of the "Call of Duty killer" explaining the current state of XDefiant.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.

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Is XDefiant dying? Current situation explained

XDefiant has lost a significant percentage of its player base since its release on May 21, 2024. According to ActivePlayer, a credible player count site, the game had 850,000 daily average users, which fell to 470,270 users in just four months.

XDefiant monthly player count table (Image via Active Player)

XDefiant Season 1 was expected to increase the player base by introducing new content like Ranked Play and 90-tier Battle Pass, but it didn't have any significant effect on player numbers.

Another strong reason why XDefiant is dying is the intense competition in the FPS genre. Due to market saturation and a huge lineup of games, XDefiant is competing to survive and dominate. An influx of new content and collaborations is missing in XDefiant, which explains the irony of the situation as XDefiant is itself an amalgamation of many old Ubisoft titles like Ghost Recon and Watchdogs.

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In-game cosmetics in XDefiant (Image via Ubisoft)

Microtransactions are an important part of a live service game like XDefiant. However, the item store says otherwise as the game severely fails to provide visually appealing skins. There is a clear disconnect between game monetization strategies and player expectations, which is evident by the reluctance towards microtransactions.

Ubisoft's focus on short-lived trends proved fatal for XDefiant in the long run. The hype died in four months as in-game content was simply recycled from other games of the same genre. The limited content which is further pushed away by the poor quality of servers and clunky game movement is what pushed the audience away in Season 1.

The developers have a small chance to revive XDefiant in Season 2, which is expected to be released towards the end of September 2024. However, Ubisoft's dependence on Season 3 to reverse trends in player engagement could be a strategic gamble, with the potential for further disappointment if expectations fall short.

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