XDefiant is finally getting closer: a stress test starts on Friday and will run all weekend long

XDefiant promo image - woman in a commando-style outfit firing a rifle

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

The XDefiant server stress test Ubisoft announced earlier this month will take place this weekend, beginning at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on April 19 and running until the same time on April 21.

The weekend event is quite a bit longer than the 12-hour playtest Ubisoft said was incoming on April 1, perhaps to encourage more people to jump in: 12 hours might be enough for developers to get what they need, after all, but it's not going to accomplish much on the public awareness front. Whatever the reason, players seem eager to find out what's been going on since the last time we looked at it, in 2023.

Get ready for our Server Test Session!📅 - April 19-21⏰ - Starts 10:00AM PT🎮 - PC, XBOX S | X, PS5💥 PRELOAD NOW! 💥🔗 - https://t.co/SbTaQSH69H pic.twitter.com/2D4BLz6O8CApril 16, 2024

There may be an element of morbid curiosity at play too. XDefiant hasn't had the smoothest ride since it was announced to, well, pretty widespread derision in 2021. Delays and extended periods of silence have followed, but through it all there's also been a persistent hope that when it finally arrives, XDefiant might actually be good. A lot of players have liked what they've seen in earlier test sessions, and former Call of Duty creative strategist Robert Bowling described it as "legit" and "a refinement of what Call of Duty was."

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Original Modern Warfare and MW2 producer Mark Rubin is also a fan, although to be fair he's executive producer on XDefiant, so he might be a little biased.

We have an update coming soon. (probably this coming week) I know we've been silent because to be honest there isn't much to talk about. I know people just want to see the game ship and so do we. I can't wait to ship just so we don't have to talk about ship dates anymore and we can talk about more important stuff like gameplay balancing or new content/modes/maps, etc. 🤣 Just to be clear we are not just sitting around with the game fixing every last little bug. Nobody launches perfect bug-free games. We do our best but it's just not realistic to think that. We had major technical issues that we found right before we launched that had to be fixed. And that's what the team has been working on. And they are not just minor bug fixes but major infrastructure and full system overhauls. The game remains the same that you played already which we have strived to make as fun as possible which we feel confident about. So aside from questions about launch which I can't talk about, I'm happy to chat about most anything else related to the game. For instance, I can confirm that no push has been made to put SBMM into the game. Our Unranked playlists will still have no SBMM and you will get the variety of gameplay that you see when there isn't SBMM. Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great weekend and thank you all for following XDefiant with so much passion! We love you all! — (Image credit: Mark Rubin (Twitter))

This weekend session should go a long way toward clarifying XDefiant's future. The stress test is meant first and foremost to "melt the servers," as Rubin put it, but it will also inevitably be a gameplay showcase, and the first opportunity for a large audience to see what Ubisoft has been up to for the past year. A release date should be incoming fairly soon too: Ubisoft said when the stress test was announced that "we expect to be able to lock a launch date and start sharing more about exciting content XDefiant has to offer in the future" once the test is over.

The XDefiant server stress test will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Console preloads are live now, but the PC version appears to be lagging behind—when it's up, you'll be able to get it from the Ubisoft Store.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.