It may be a coincidence – and it probably is – but Modern Warfare II’s next free play week, which blows the game wide open for all comers, is due to kick off just as the XDefiant Open Beta goes live. From the 22nd to the 26th of June, gamers eager to trial Modern Warfare II can get access to almost the entire game, and from the 21st to the 23rd of June, XDefiant’s ‘Open Session’ offers players a key insight into the ‘COD killer’ FPS from Ubisoft.
Is it a thinly-veiled attempt by Activision and its associated studios to tempt players away from what could be the Call of Duty killer, or is it a mere coincidence?
Will XDefiant Really Kill COD?
There’s every opportunity for XDefiant to put a sizeable dent in Call of Duty’s operations, that’s for sure. During the most recent closed beta phases, it saw plenty of involvement from top-tier Call of Duty creators and professional esports players, and all of them came away impressed with their experiences on the Ubisoft-built platform.
It has been developed with competitive gaming in mind, it boasts much faster pacing than modern Call of Duty titles, and with a roster packed full of references to Ubisoft franchises of days gone by, it’s a trip down memory lane for fans of the developer.
Reportedly, XDefiant boasts next-generation netcode that took ‘top engineers over a year to create’, which promotes hyper-low latency and almost completely eliminates desynch and bad hit registration, which has long been a problem with Call of Duty – particularly with Warzone, the ever-popular battle royale platform.
Here are the reactions that were captured by top Call of Duty players:
So, do we think that Activision’s developers are running scared of XDefiant? Is that why the next free play week of Modern Warfare II just so happens to coincide with the XDefiant Open Session?
Or am I making a connection that simply doesn’t exist?
For more Insider Gaming news, check out our coverage of EA’s internal split that’s going to divide the company
