Tom Clancy's XDefiant – Ubisoft's Latest Misguided Trend Chase

Ubisoft's next major PvP project, Tom Clancy’s XDefiant, was finally revealed on July 19. It's easy to forget about it, but it has a huge Dislike ratio on Ubisoft North America channel with 24,000-12,000 Likes. XDefiant is a multiplayer free-to-play title that mixes the "Defiants", rambunctious factions of Tom Clancy properties such as the Wolves from Ghost Recon Breakpoint or the Cleaners from The Division, into six-v6 matches. Echelon is a good choice, but it has been kind of bad, then kindof good and kindof good in the Splinter Cells. Good question but I digress.

Initial backlash was against the game’s punk rock, mosh pit aesthetic with lots of colourful graffiti, especially in trying to pass this off as appropriate for Tom Clancy’s genre of espionage thrillers. Some people hated the fact that Splinter Cell or Sam Fisher hadn't received a proper sequel, while others saw XDefiant primarily as a cash grab to capitalize on the hero-shooter trend. However, it was closer to Valorant when it comes to realistic guns. The game is still in development and has not yet been released. It will undergo a series of closed technical testing before it goes live. Even though it doesn't break any rules or invent anything, it could end up being a great game.

Instead, I would like to explore the necessity of Tom Clancy's XDefiant. This idea is obvious. Even a hero shooter game like Overwatch, which hasn’t seen any major updates or new heroes for more than a decade, saw 10 million players join in 2020. Valorant had 14 million players in its first year and was even able to surpass Counter-Strike: GO's January revenue. Rainbow Six Siege is still very popular among more than 75 million players, according to July 2021. This game combines tactical shooting with more grounded heroes, and abilities.

It's a good idea to have a 6v6 shooter that has realistic gunplay and abilities, but also offers faster-paced action such as Call of Duty. The company could use it as a strong revenue stream, since they haven't been able to make a significant push in the FPS market other than Siege. Ubisoft is looking for full revenue returns from its customers, so it only plans to bring this feature to Ubisoft Connect, not Epic Games Store. It even includes recognizable properties such as Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, and The Division. __S.18__

Important to remember a few points. Overwatch is a great hero shooter, but that doesn't mean every imitator has been as successful. Paladins. Lawbreakers. Battleborn. Rocket Arena. Dirty Bomb. Quake Champions. The list of failed titles and/or failures over the years is quite impressive. They didn't all have the same marketing power as Activision Blizzard, or Ubisoft. A new IP with new characters could be a huge success even for a large-name publisher. Apex Legends is a good example.

With context, Apex's success isn't just a matter of being "published by EA." It's also clear that Respawn Entertainment was taking risks in a battle royale market that was crowded with titles like Fortnite and other big-name titles. It was a risky move to drop the title on players, while still offering great gameplay and revolutionary new features such as the pinging system and a strong level of polish. Respawn managed to adapt well despite the fact that engagement and player numbers dropped. They also released compelling updates and new features, despite Heirloom Items' less than savory monetization practices.

Hyper Scape is Ubisoft’s battle royale title. It followed the same principles as Apex Legends, which was a stealth release and a massive marketing campaign that saw many high-profile streamers gain access to the game, increasing Twitch's numbers, and generating lots of buzz. Hyperscape failed to live up to expectations and crashed within a matter of months. The usual overhaul of gameplay and systems has failed to spark much interest. The game has not been saved by any amount of changes, new content or "listening" to player feedback. This could be due to the game's poor gameplay or polish, as well as the fact that other games are better and have a larger market share.

Then there was Tom Clancy's Elite Squad by Tom Clancy, a mobile RPG which interestingly combined several Ubisoft properties such as Ghost Recon and The Division. It was clearly designed to capitalize on the success of RAID: Shadow Legends and its servers will be shut down on October 4. It didn't make much social media buzz like Hyper Scape. It was instead criticized for being nothing more than a cash grab, and then it died out.