XDefiant announces release, and is sooner than expected

Ubisoft has announced the release date for XDefiant, a free-to-play arena shooter that combines factions from several of Ubisoft's franchises, each with unique abilities from its original games.

The game will be released on May 21st. Its preseason features the five factions and 14 maps from their respective worlds, as well as 24 weapons and 44 attachments.

The factions are:

• Echelon from Splinter Cell
• Phantoms from Ghost Recon Phantoms
• Cleaners from The Division
• Libertad from Far Cry 6
• Dedsec from Watch Dogs 2 *Dedsec will require unlocking or purchasing first.

While the maps are:

• Arena
• Attica Heights
• Dumbo
• Echelon HQ
• Emporium
• Liberty
• Mayday
• Meltdown
• Midway
• Nudleplex
• Pueblito
• Showtime
• Times Square
• Zoo

There will be five modes for you to play: Domination, Hot Shot, Occupy, Escort, and Zone control. All of them, excluding Hot Shot, will also be available on Ranked Mode Practice Playlist, which will feature 4v4 versions of these.

They also have a Year 1 roadmap, displaying what to expect for each season; after the preseason ends after six weeks, each season will last three months and will add a new Faction, three new weapons, and three new maps, and have 90 tiers of Battle Pass each.

XDefiant has faced several delays since its initial announcement, such as Certification issues for the console releases and an indefinite delay the following month due to "inconsistencies in the game experience" that are now seemingly taken care of.