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XDefiant dev hits back at fans accusing them of making a CoD “clone”

The Executive Producer on XDefiant has hit back at fans accusing them of creating a Call of Duty "clone" instead of a "unique" experience.

XDefiant cleaner spraying fire onto enemies

Ubisoft’s XDefiant cannot escape comparisons with the behemoth franchise that is Call of Duty. In the beginning, the game was labeled as a potential CoD killer that could steal away players who were tired of SBMM matchmaking, now it’s released some fans are calling it a “clone” that doesn’t offer anything “unique.” Well, XDefiant’s Executive Producer couldn’t help clapping back after seeing these accusations on social media.

As both titles are FPS games and share similar weapons, XDefiant and Call of Duty were always going to be compared by fans. While there are a lot of similarities, there are also countless differences that set them apart. One of the biggest is the lack of skill-based matchmaking in XDefiant, a feature the CoD community has wanted for years. On top of that, the various factions bring powerful abilities to the battlefield, and movement is completely different in Ubisoft’s shooter.

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Alongside the fans loving the game, there are always going to be critics, and plenty have appeared on social media to voice their disappointment. One user specifically made it clear that in their opinion, XDefiant is a blatant “clone to the core” of Call of Duty and doesn’t bring anything “unique” to the table. When debated by other XDefiant fans, they decided to claim that they were simply “spitting facts.”

Instead of just observing, Executive Producer on XDefiant Mark Rubin decided to get involved, jokingly saying that the fan “couldn’t spit a fact if [their] life depended on it.” Rubin then followed up by defending XDefiant, claiming it “fills a void in the arcade shooter space that CoD created.”

Twitter reply from Mark Rubin on XDefiant

This back-and-forth got a lot of attention, but Rubin ultimately deflated the discussion by saying that he was “just having fun” and didn’t mean to stir up any “negativity.” Despite this, the debate made it very clear he’s not afraid to step in and defend the game that he’s spent countless hours working on.

Whether you think it’s a clone or not, if you’re enjoying XDefiant and want to dominate your foes on the battlefield, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with all the XDefiant factions and have the best XDefiant loadouts equipped.

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