The "COD KILLER" is no more, XDefiant is SHUTTING DOWN

[@SatimsVT]

I feel like the main reason new FPS game series fail now is more about gameplay mechanics than something like SBMM. I could grind old FPS games for 6 hours straight because the focus was gunplay, if I lost a gunfight I would admit I'm ass and move on. Now it's all about stupid movement mechanics and overcomplicated create-a-class weapon tuning with a strict meta, that make the game more about trying super hard than just having a bit of fun. I want games that are more basic and less serious.

[@Rxqe]

think that's a huge reason why old CoDs for example were so addicting, simple, yet extremely addicting

[@SatimsVT]

@@Rxqe I think the removal of the simplicity also plays into the need for SBMM and the crappy playstyles that CoD suffers from now. If your gunplay is decent, but your movement is bad, you're more inclined to camp. If you don't have the meta gun with the right set of attachments, you get flattened by players at a similar skill level and end up in the camping lobbies that make the game less fun. Widening the skill gap simply makes the game worse.

[@lm_slayer1]

@@SatimsVTnuance is not a bad thing. There are, and have been, PLENTY of the “simple shooters” you speak of, and they die almost instantly. COD, even at its worst, just hits the nail on the head with the combination of it’s gameplay and progression systems, you won’t find better gunplay in other games, that’s just simply not feasible. The only franchise that USED to rival COD in that regard was battlefield… look how that turned out. I HIGHLY disagree that widening the skill gap makes the game worse. At its core, this is still a relatively casual shooter. The best games usually have a low skill floor and a high skill ceiling, which is exactly what BO6 is.

[@Tydean]

You kinda of touched on it with the camo aspect, the older cods were just fun and the camos were something I did while I was playing, in the newer games it feels like I’m getting on for the camo

[@Rxqe]

its definitely become a main focus

[@gaming_tim]

xdefiant had potential but the hitreg was so shit that i'd would not play either current cod mp or xdefiant. i also feel like if xdefiant wasnt an ubisoft game it would still be up, as ubisoft loves making money and making shareholders happy.

[@SatimsVT]

The hit reg was one of the main things that put me off the game in the final beta test, it was made even worse by the fact that I'm EU and play with mainly US based players, so ass hit reg + 120 ping felt awful.

[@Rxqe]

that's one of the biggest issues with the game, the hitreg was always an issue when I played, constantly dying around walls haha

[@IKEACherryChair]

I just reached this point, steam would've been so fucking good for the platform. Having that banner ad in the store, or the promotion on that pop-up thing you get when you launch steam itself? could've attracted so many people

[@Rxqe]

100%, would've been huge for the game

[@shmuurdaa]

“No SBMM didn’t save the game” is exactly how Activision is gonna look at the situation unfortunately. They’re gonna completely ignore every other issue to try and justify the EOMM system they use

[@Rxqe]

hoping that's not the case :/

[@VerquiaZ]

I wasn't expecting that. Tho i was kind of expecting it due to its "success"

[@Rxqe]

heard the rumor back in October about it's potential shutdown and now here we are, I fear players didn't come back

[@subaraz]

Mike, I remember seeing one clip on XclusiveAce's video where the person was firing at the dummy in a private match, and it only showed the blood and not the hitmarkers (whilst they were moving). It was only where they stopped moving where the hit detection works like normal.

[@Rxqe]

in xdef? I know the hit reg was always rough but hadn't seen that

[@armanimartinez8105]

Yeah man cut the HORSESHIT The old prestige mode is a mess and broken…. Proves that the new prestige mode is better for casuals and for the COD HQ Tell me how I have a prestige key unlock but if I buy all the bundles Then the guns and attachments are unlocked entirely So what’s the POINT ? ? ? Besides navigating so many many menus……

[@Rxqe]

@@armanimartinez8105 Warzone. That’s the whole point of the “new” prestige system. Because in warzone you have access to all weapons at the same time. Also bundles permanently unlocking weapons ties into that, that’s how it’s been since the original warzone. So the mix of classic prestige and new is the best case scenario. Classic prestige is extremely important for longevity across all modes, no xp is wasted. Seasonal/“new” prestige is designed for warzone and wastes xp.

[@revenge977]

The game felt clunky to me idk. Kinda same feeling as Rainbow Six (which does fit rainbow six because its a tac shooter but doesnt fit an arcade shooter like xdefiant). If we get a FPS with similar feeling of older cods (cod4-bo2), I think it would be successful. sm2 was going to be something like that but I wish we can get an entirely new game like that not something built using cod assets, so it can actually compete with cod and not get shutdown.

[@Rxqe]

I can see that, xdef had a kinda janky feeling to it. I think almost any new fps would have to take itself and the objective of competing with cod seriously enough to make a long term effect, kinda hard to go against cod in that regard

[@walterrequiem6467]

They were honestly so stupid to have kept delaying it as much as they did. They had a golden opportunity to get the game out when people were upset with Modern Warfare 3 and they just waited way too long before putting it out just a bit before the hype around BO6 really started. The game itself was in bad shape too, I really enjoyed the beta but when I got to play it after it launched the hitreg was awful and somehow just less polished than the beta. It's really sad what happened.

[@ByLJT]

It felt rushed to be on the market even though it got delayed. Lack of challenges, lack of camo grind, prestige mode which they said would be in the game still didn't get added. Stuff like that seems minuet but its something that people need in games to keep them playing. Even the amount of calling card challenges in bo6 isn't enough for me because I simply like having something to do rather than just playing regularly since Ive done it for over a decade.

[@Rxqe]

Exactly, people need more of a reason to come back and things to do in the game nowadays. Retention is always a focus, but I think they definitely dropped the ball with things like prestige and challenges, not having them there after being delayed for a year was rough

[@SaekAncient]

xdef had its problems but it was probably the only chance for not just competition for cod, but the one chance to inspire more devs to make more cod-like games. unfortunately the industry and the cod community is an overall joke and we’re just stuck with the zombified state of modern cod (even with a few nuggets of gold) i just hope everyone that got laid off can find stability soon and mark can get another crack at a shooter or any other dev can make a cod-like shooter because my ass is not playing ironsight for the off years all the time.

[@jjordarr]

Sad to see xdef shutting down. It was a pretty good game but the hit reg was so bad on release that I would get hit markers with my snipers and not do any damage to people. That’s the main reason I had to give it up

[@Rxqe]

totally agree it is very sad, but yeah the hit reg drove me insane at times LMAO dying behind walls got real old real quick

[@محسن-ل8ع]

Did you know that I have been following you since you were playing COD4, go ahead my friend you are a respectable person❤️❤️

[@gorillagroddgaming]

Did you know that I have been gooning since you were playing COD4 👍

[@Rxqe]

appreciate you being here for so long! will be bringing back CoD4 videos in the future :)

[@Rxqe]

gooning while playing CoD4 🗿

[@URBONED]

I think this is the sad reality of free to play+live service games. Game isn’t making enough money? It’s not only shutdown, you can’t even play the game - not even offline. All that hard work for nothing. I can still put my cod 2 disc in my Xbox and play the campaign and maybe find an online game - even if servers are shut down the game still exists in some capacity.

[@Rxqe]

the sad reality of f2p, live service, but also digital releases only. Not having physical copies/discs of games really solidifies the death of games in the long run like this which really sucks

[@epicmineman2847]

"XDefiant won't shut down, it's gonna be the next Cod killer!" **game dies by season 3**

[@BroJust...7867]

No one said that

[@FatherDaze]

I’ll never forget being a 5th grader playing WaW. I’d see a tenth prestige and think they could save the world. I was the kid who sent friend requests to high prestiges 😭

[@Rxqe]

we all had our moments like that LOL you're not alone

[@JDUU2K]

The wait for launch was pretty bad and I get game dev takes time, but everyone was so hyped for the game around early 2023 but it took over a year to launch out of multiple closed and open betas which killed all momentum the game had especially with the launch of MW3. It not launching on Steam and also having slow content releases didn't help the game much either so by the time BO6 came out it was basically only a matter of time until this happened.

[@Rxqe]

completely agree with you on this

[@hungryforcatnip]

XD failed mostly because there was nothing to do in the game, no camo progression, no challenges, and they let the summer hype die. They launched with too little content. Yeah, there's no SBMM, but what do I play for?

[@pippip911]

xdefiant was always shit and the only reason why people said they "liked" it was because it wasn't cod. Cod fans need to propping up shit games as a replacement.

[@Rxqe]

I thought it was unique, I'm not big on the hero abilities but it was a nice refresher for a bit imo. To me, a game doesn't need to be cod to enjoy it but yeah I think given the state we were in with MWII, that's how a lot of people may have felt LOL

[@pippip911]

i would agree with if wasn't a poor man version of black ops 4 which was also a shit game

[@mrautismo420]

☠️☠️☠️☠️remember all the clowns who thought this game would do a dent to cod 🤡🤡💀💀

[@Rxqe]

was a legitimate alternative for sure, but doubt it would've been able to compete long term

[@dajaunte9595]

there genuinely no way anyone actually thought xdefiant would kill cod. im not even the biggest fan and even i could see how crazy that was

[@Rxqe]

that's just the sentiment of any new fps, or any genre for that matter, people immediately jump on the "*insert franchise* killer" train when a new competitor comes along

[@IKEACherryChair]

i feel like the biggest chance to try and humble CoD is a Titanfall 3. TF|2 is fast, arcade-y, fun, it focuses on itself and it feels good to play. Both pilot V pilot and mixed titan V pilot gameplay felt balanced and all of the gameplay fit. however, i doubt there will ever be one, sadly. I personally wouldn't care if it had microtransactions or anything like that, only if it played good.

[@Rxqe]

if TF3 comes out and has pvp as a staple game mode, id def give it a go. TF2 pvp was good fun

[@msg21998]

I feel like the writing was on the wall when xdefiant came out being barebones with a lot of the issues carry over a year ago with barely anything changed all while CoD picked up the slack with MWIII and Black ops 6 releasing. While I didn’t care much for the game, I still wanted the game to succeed to give some competition to CoD because man I do not like Black ops 6’s multiplayer. Maybe if the game came out during MWII, had the ball rolling, and Ubisoft knew what the game to be, I’m sure it would had survived longer. Sucks that the whole “no SBMM” is going to be the scapegoat when it was much more than that. Also the fact that Ubisoft other game “Skull and Bones” lasting longer then xdefiant makes me kinda upset

[@Rxqe]

couldn't agree more man, shame it turned out this way though

[@YourTypicalGaming]

idk if it was just that i had bad luck but i don't believe XDefiant had no sbmm because any time i played i'd get into lobbies with people that were the same skill or a little better skill than me but anytime i'd see someone's video on the game their opponents never shoot back like when you 2box in COD

[@Rxqe]

oh yeah I remember people saying similar things, that there was always the doubt of sbmm still being there

[@YourTypicalGaming]

@Rxqe yeah, I could've just had bad luck you never know lol

[@JustMeIon]

XDefiant was the most fun I had with an arcade shooter since MWR. After MWR, CoD was basically dead to me until MWIII. I legit can't stress enough how much I fell in love with XDefiant. It felt like a more refined Black Ops 4 where the abilities didn't feel like they got in the way of the game, but rather ADDED to the gun play. Me and my friends also played a ton of XDefiant and actually got six stacks for the first time in YEARS. And the no SBMM made me feel like I was constantly improving while seeing my K/D keep going up as I learned the game and got better. I believed in the game and so did Mark, but clearly Ubi didn't. Here's hoping XDefiant gets fan servers eventually..... If XDefiant only had ten fan, I was one of those fans.

[@Rxqe]

huge respect melon meyon

[@PyroOfZen]

If xDef's netcode issues had been ironed out, I would have gone back to it, 100%. Dodgy hitreg, rubber-banding, insta-melting, etc are entirely what made me stop playing, and I guarantee the vast majority of people who dropped it did so for the same reason, even if they don't realize it. It makes the game feel immensely unsatisfying at best, and rage-inducing at worst.

[@Rxqe]

Extremely good point, delayed for a year plus after the first beta and still hitreg was a constant issue it felt like

[@Mapes.]

Honestly, the shutdown was inevitable for 3 main reasons: 1. The painfully overdrawn camo grind, and lack of progression. Mastery camos could take weeks for just a single gun. Way less engaging than that of camos on CoD. Sometimes it'd even take upwards of a month. On top of this, they didn't implement any sort of prestige system, let alone any form of "True" progression. There was the battlepass, sure, but that's not enough. There needed to be more. 2. The extremely poor weapon & specialist class balancing. There's a reason you'd see only like, 1 gun from 3 different classes over anything else. The specialists? Again, only like, 2 or 3 were ever viable as they were the most broken. Typically, the medic specialist, bubble, and dedsec. Mainly it was dedsec you'd see. 3. They partnered with Ubisoft, and they've been going belly up all year. It was a smart choice when they started development, but over time, it became the worst decision they could've made. The only thing they had going for 'em, was no SBMM in public matches. They never implemented no disbanding lobbies, which would've been huge as well. However the 3 key points listed, was the ultimate downfall of the game.

[@Rxqe]

Definitely see all of these points; progression (lack thereof) being the biggest issue for sure, gamers nowadays need a lot more than just 'simple arcade fps with no sbmm' as a selling point. The specialists were definitely annoying to an extent, especially the healers where they had more hp by default, the pyro/fire rounds were extremely frustrating to die to. I don't think I encountered much of dedsec as I think they were apart of Season 1 right? Could be wrong about that. Again though totally see what you mean

[@OBJACKTION]

Marks “open communication” was just lying tho, being open is cool but people like mark dont care about us, they will gaslight and lie (remember a few months ago when he said with certainty there is no talks of it shutting down)

[@SaekAncient]

plans change, its never that simple

[@PyroOfZen]

It is entirely plausible that a few months ago there were no talks of it being shut down...

[@OBJACKTION]

@@PyroOfZen its possible, but the “rumour” starting just a few months before its announced is quite a coincidence, its possible but im not one to give ubisoft of all companies the benefit of the doubt

[@735Films]

Man if they release it on steam and just suck up the 30% selling fee, it would be made up the amount of players that would have played... Sad. CoD needs the competition but CoD is just too big...

[@Rxqe]

is that usually the rate for companies to sell games on steam? shit man, 30% for that trade off of millions of players ease of access, would've been huge

[@735Films]

@ yup. Same as the Apple App Store. 30%. That's why Tim Sweeney with Epic was in a legal battle for so long. Big price to pay but the amount of players you'd get has to be worth it eh.

[@YxngTexas]

Actually shocked that it’s shutting down.

[@Rxqe]

so soon too, after hardly 6 months

[@Mertl.]

Ubisoft killed the game, not Activision. What are they thinking when they decide to not launch on steam? Same thing happens with their other games, dead on arrival

[@Rxqe]

Curious to see what happened with that, if there was an announcement or something where Ubi said they werent gonna release it on steam

[@BzrKGungaDin]

bros been playing cod longer than i have been breathing air LOL. but I can not lie, I DID want to see XD fail just because I'm petty about them nerfing sniping in to the ground. But I would have liked for them to keep going because they do have a player base and people who do love the game and like you said it also adds some competition. but to be 100% honest they only added some competition during mw3 like mid year if I'm being correct but it was never going to be "the cod killer"

[@Rxqe]

bro is petty and ya know I gotta respect it LMAO nah on the real I completely agree with that, I wanted them to keep going as a legit competitor because it forces everyone to be better, but it just didnt work out

[@lukelele7063]

RIP Xdefiant, home of my first quad hitmarker

[@Rxqe]

tragic stuff gamer

[@lukelele7063]

@@Rxqe thank you 😔

[@bzz]

cod always has had the most polished UX from visuals to mechanics, making a clone that fixes the one issue cod has and ignores everything else can never sustain. Xdefiant had weak animations, graphics and design imo, didnt feel as satisfying to play

[@Rxqe]

That's an extremely good point, I can definitely see that

[@WoleGqu]

didnt they just have a new update and even sponsored some KZbinrs to cover the update?

[@Rxqe]

I couldn't tell ya man, I'm not sure

[@flamingscar5263]

People should look at Xdefient and realize as much as COD has its issues, it's on top for a reason

[@Rxqe]

cod has 20+ years of support behind it, very hard to go against it

[@dirtmesumshii1092]

I gotta be honest, I forgot that game existed

[@ADLERELiCT]

XDefiant was never slated to be a "COD killer". It was a direct competitor to Call of Duty, but in no way would it overtake COD long term. The budget wasn't there. To top it all off, Ubisoft is craving for money, as they're at the brink of bankruptcy. Regardless, that's a really misleading title bro... not nice.

[@Rxqe]

I completely agree with that, it definitely wasn't going to overtake CoD but it did serve as a solid alternative, and I enjoyed it for the short time I played. What's misleading about the title? I said in the identity section of the video (7:20) that XDefiant was dubbed as "the CoD killer" by the community. There are tons of videos/articles/references, you name it, where people just called it as such. Plenty of creators here on KZbin did the exact same thing and I'm just going off that. That's just what happens when almost any new fps title comes out, people will naturally call it a "CoD/Battlefield/Halo (etc) killer" because they're the juggernauts of fps.

[@ADLERELiCT]

@Rxqe Respectfully, I just thought that labelling XD as a "COD killer" was a bit of a stretch anyway. I do understand that you have to go with the flow to keep the relevancy afloat... I totally respect that. Perhaps it was a mistake on my part, as I was really invested in XDefiant and it's development. The news that XD was sunsetted by Ubisoft hit really hard and, as you probably understand, emotions can sometimes take a hold of ones judgement, for which I do apologize.

[@dom_40]

sad day for the 4 xdefiant fans

[@Rxqe]

sad day indeed

[@g2timmywonka]

Sbmm is a definite in any fps

[@Rxqe]

I just wish it was more focused in ranked specific modes, not public/non ranked lobbies

[@g2timmywonka]

@Rxqe oh absolutely if you grinded to get into ranked you should be rewarded so. But I'm a casual gamer, father of two, if i enjoy a game and just want to play with the gang, i don't want to play against guys with a 3 k.d

[@Omegaxtreme]

I had fun in xdefiant what a shame. Not like the best game ive ever played but still.

[@ComuTheMerc]

I guess this is telling companies that sbmm is good ;-;

[@tstnoob9675]

really i would try xdefiant if it waas on steam without any ubisoft connect bull shi-

[@BehindMyVisor]

delta force here we come

[@Rxqe]

might have to check it out

[@BehindMyVisor]

@ looks promising

[@audi.6106]

In my opinion the game died because: it wasnt on steam, the grind was too long, no kill streaks, bad cosmetics (no revenue), gunplay was not as good as cod

[@Rxqe]

very fair points, I think not releasing on steam was a huge hit