After 3 years of playtests and delays, Ubisoft's free-to-play crossover FPS XDefiant is finally launching for real this month

Three years after its initial reveal, Ubisoft's free-to-play shooter XDefiant is finally set to launch - for real this time - in May.

XDefiant will launch on May 21 across PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC via Ubisoft Connect. In the announcement, Ubisoft describes this as the kickoff of a "preseason," with additional seasons bringing new factions, weapons, maps, and battle passes. The initial offering will include "five different game modes across 14 maps, 24 weapons with 44 attachments, and five playable factions inspired by Ubisoft franchises." You can see the full roadmap for future content here.

Those factions include Splinter Cell's Echelon, Watch Dogs' DedSec, Ghost Recon's Phantoms, The Division's Cleaners, and Far Cry's Libertad. At its initial reveal in 2021 XDefiant was billed specifically as a Tom Clancy game, though its colorful visuals didn't seem particularly targeted toward fans of modern military fiction.

But a lot about XDefiant has changed since that initial reveal, with the game disappearing and reappearing through various insider and public playtests over the years. XDefiant seemed promising but messy when we went hands-on with it in 2023, and it had initially been scheduled to launch in August of that year - until certification standards got in the way. Ultimately, "inconsistencies in the game experience" led to another indefinite delay, but it looks like the end is finally in sight. Or rather, perhaps it's the beginning that's now in sight for what Ubisoft surely hopes will be a live service hit.

Take aim at the best FPS games you can play right now.