Ubisoft’s latest free-to-play Arena shooter, XDefiant, has seen an explosive debut, reportedly drawing in 1 million unique players within just two and a half hours of its launch yesterday. At the height of the excitement, the game boasted half a million concurrent players on its first day. This impressive turnout, however, was met with server issues, causing many players to experience long waits in the game’s menu. Fortunately, Ubisoft managed to resolve these technical problems within eight to ten hours post-launch.
This rapid influx of players marks a significant milestone for Ubisoft, making XDefiant its fastest game to hit 1 million unique players. The momentum continued, and within 48 hours of its release, the game had attracted over 3 million unique players and maintained around 300,000 concurrent players across all platforms.
For comparison, Respawn Entertainment’s popular battle royale, Apex Legends, garnered 1 million unique players in eight hours and 2.5 million within 24 hours upon its release in 2019. XDefiant’s impressive early numbers suggest a strong initial interest, although it is still early to determine its long-term success.
Despite being free-to-play, XDefiant’s financial success will depend on revenue from its Battle Pass and in-game cosmetics. The Battle Pass is competitively priced, but some players have expressed concerns over the high cost of in-game cosmetic items. For instance, the ‘Phantoms Prototype’ bundle, which includes four cosmetic items, costs 2900 X coins—equivalent to roughly $30.
Currently, Ubisoft is pleased with the game’s performance, with XDefiant on track to surpass the company’s internal milestones in terms of player numbers. The critical test however, for Ubisoft will be retaining these players and converting their engagement into sustained revenue through the game’s monetisation strategies. Whether XDefiant can maintain its player base and turn initial interest into long-term success remains to be seen, but its explosive start has certainly set a strong foundation for the future.
