Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

XDefiant is already being hailed as the Call of Duty killer

XDefiant is already being hailed as the Call of Duty killer
Ubisoft | Infinity Ward

Written by 

Jack Marsh

Published 

14th Apr 2023 12:54

The Call of Duty franchise finds itself in some turbulent waters, as yet another seasonal update has come and gone, with yet another wave of disappointment washing ashore. 

Remembering a range of new titles are lurking like a pack of sharks, it seems like the first game to land has already taken quite a bite out of Call of Duty's lifeless corpse.

XDefiant - an Ubisoft-developed game backed by ex-Call of Duty designers - is already being dubbed as the CoD killer as its Closed Beta test has blown away FPS stalwarts.

Call of Duty fans left embarrassed as XDefiant launches with everything MW2 needed

 

Led by former Treyarch Legend Mark Rubin, XDefiant's Closed Beta has launched with the backing of eight other Call of Duty esports superstars, and has quickly gathered attention by bringing everything that was missing from Modern Warfare 2 back to the table.

Filled to the brim with colour, blessed with red dots on mini-maps, hosting 14 maps explicitly tailored to their game modes with a voting system, and an iconic weapon pool including the ACR, XDefiant has quickly won over the CoD fans.

Even though XDefiant is still in its beta stage, the developers launched 14 maps to play on, which is actually more than what Modern Warfare 2 has now...three seasons in.

XDefiant is beginning the CoD-killing trend

After just a few hours, XDefiant is already being hailed as being better than the current Call of Duty model.

The free-to-play game also has no skill-based matchmaking and a roadmap which includes a Ranked mode from Season 1 - also putting Call of Duty to shame. Of course, it remains to be seen whether this really is the next big thing or just another Hyper Scape. 

 

XDefiant is the first of the new wave of arcade shooters to have landed, with Deadrop also receiving mixed feedback in its pre-Alpha stage, 100Thieves working on their own title, and another ex-Call of Duty studio working on another usurper. Things are off to a good start, and if we were Activision, we'd be worried.

Jack Marsh
About the author
Jack Marsh
Jack is an Esports Journalist at GGRecon. Graduating from the University of Chester, with a BA Honours degree in Journalism, Jack is an avid esports enthusiast and specialises in Rocket League, Call of Duty, VALORANT, and trending gaming news.
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