Ubisoft’s free-to-play FPS XDefiant will launch this summer

Ubisoft has announced that its free-to-play FPS, XDefiant, will launch this summer.

Before it does, developer Ubisoft San Francisco will host a final ‘open session’ on June 21-23, which will be available to everyone on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

This will be designed to “address some of the feedback from the closed beta, executive producer Mark Rubin explained.

When the game does launch later in the summer, it will feature 14 maps, five gameplay modes and 24 weapons.

It will also have five factions – four will initially be available and the fifth, the Dedsec organisation from Watch Dogs, will be unlockable.

The four available from the start will be The Cleaners (The Division), Libertad (Far Cry 6), Echelon (Splinter Cell) and Phantoms (Ghost Recon Phantoms).

XDefiant is in development at Ubisoft San Francisco and led by executive producer Mark Rubin, who previously held the same position at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare studio Infinity Ward.

The game was initially revealed in July 2021 as Tom Clancy’s XDefiant. At the time, it only included factions from Tom Clancy franchises Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon and The Division.

But in March 2022, Ubisoft announced that it was dropping the Tom Clancy branding and introducing additional factions from its wider catalogue of IP.