Is XDefiant free?

It’s going to take a lot to knock Call of Duty off the top spot, having presided over the first person shooter for what now seems like aeons. Sure, it’s had some stiff competition over the years, and still plays second fiddle to Counter-Strike in the hardcore PC realm, though few have come close to imitating its slick modernisation of the arcade shooter. Not until XDefiant, that is.

It's incredibly easy to be cynical when it comes to new live service titles. So many of them seem to appear and then disappear in the blink of an eye, but contrary to many a pre-launch prediction, Ubisoft's recently released XDefiant is actually posting decent player numbers.

XDefiant certainly has plenty of guns and fast-paced gameplay to offer right out of the gate, but if you want to make the most of your options in gunfights, you’ll need to choose a faction that complements your playstyle. Each faction features three unlockable characters who all share universal passives, abilities, and ultras that can turn the tide of battle in a heartbeat. Below, we’ve listed a breakdown of each faction and their kits so you can figure out what suits you best.

XDefiant is a fast-paced first-person shooter with a wide variety of gun types to choose from, giving you a ton of choices on how to build your loadouts. Whether you’re a run-and-gun kind of person or prefer to sit back and pop foes from afar, you’ll find that there’s something here that fits your playstyle. However, you’ll need to first unlock most of the guns by completing challenges, and some of them can require playing a specific way for a bit. When you’re ready to do that, here’s how to unlock every gun in XDefiant.

XDefiant, on paper, is cynical to the point of parody.

Ubisoft’s XDefiant may suffer from hit registration issues, netcode problems and a lack of content, but its launch is seemingly a success. After reporting over three million unique players within two days of launching, Insider Gaming has revealed that the free-to-play shooter is now at 7.6 million players in its first week.

The free-to-play first-person shooter game XDefiant is reportedly doing big numbers already. According to Tom Henderson, the game has become the fastest ever made by Ubisoft to surpass one million unique players. In fact, it has already managed to break through the three million unique player milestone.

XDefiant is a free-to-play shooter from Ubisoft, which brings together multiple factions from the publisher’s long list of franchises. Each of these factions have their own abilities and passives that make them suited for certain playstyles, so knowing which one works best for you should be an important part of your strategy. While individual characters within these factions share the same abilities, unlocking them all gives you access to more customization options via unique skins.

XDefiant has a wide range of guns to pick from and customize, but they’re not all created equally. That being said, here are our picks for the most well-rounded and lethal choices available right now.

Ubisoft will roll out XDefiant’s first patch today.

XDefiant launched its pre-season this week and Ubisoft’s free-to-play first-person Call of Duty competitor appears to be going down well with competitive shooter fans hankering for an old-school experience. But there’s one issue with the game that sticks out more than any other: hit registration.

Ubisoft’s XDefiant launched recently, and despite some brief matchmaking issues, the response has seemingly been good. Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson reported that it saw one million unique players within 2.5 hours of its launch, making it the publisher’s fastest-ever title to reach the milestone. Furthermore, it crossed three million unique players in the first two days.