‘Tom Clancy’s XDefiant’ to hold cross-play test this week

XDefiant, the Tom Clancy free-to-play shooter from Ubisoft will be holding a cross-play test later this week.

The game – which has previously been described a 6v6 mash-up of Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and The Division – was initially announced as Tom Clancy’s XDefiant back in 2021.

However, Ubisoft chose to drop the Tom Clancy branding after fans criticised the game for deviating too far from the franchise’s more serious military themes.

Nevertheless, Ubisoft has continued to work on XDefiant, occasionally holding “insider” testing sessions to gain feedback from players.

The latest insider sessions will run from Thursday, February 16 to Sunday, February 19 (February 20 in the UK), and will be the first to enable cross-play between PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Players will have access to four different game modes over the course of the test, including Escort, Zone Control, Domination, and Occupy. The playable maps include Attica Heights, Arena, Dumbo, Emporium, Liberty, Mayday, Meltdown, Midway, Nudleplex, Showtime, Times Square, Zoo, and the new Pueblito.

Those wishing to take part in future sessions can sign up on Ubisoft’s website.

XDefiant is the developer’s latest attempt to produce a free-to-play hit, having experienced limited success in the past. Their sci-fi battle royale game Hyper Scape was taken offline last year after just 18 months, while 3v3 sports game Roller Champions is still available to play.

Another one of their free-to-play games, the Tom Clancy third-person shooter The Division Heartlands, has long been delayed, while Ghost Recon Frontline was axed before its release.

In other Ubisoft news, the release of The Division 2 Season 11 was recently delayed due to an issue that prevented the developer from updating the game.

“In the past, when a Season was delayed, we extended the previous Season’s activities,” explained Ubisoft. “Unfortunately, this is not possible in the current situation, as we are unable to make server or client side updates until the build generation is restored.”