Many players had high hopes for Ubisoft’sXDefiantwhen it was announced in July 2021, with hype around the project steadily building up until its release in 2024. As an intense free-to-play multiplayer FPS, it was always clear that the project would have a lot of competition from other major franchises, although Ubisoft had the benefit of being able to use factions from its own IPs to immediately raise the profile and recognizability ofXDefiant.
Despite the short-lived buzz thatXDefiantgarnered after its launch, Ubisoft announced that the game will be shut down in June 2025. While it was clear thatXDefiant’s premise as a live-service free-to-play title was unsustainable, there was some merit in the way the title bridged the content of different games into a singular experience, and Ubisoft still has the opportunity to use this premise for an engaging multiplayer mode for the nextFar Crytitle.
Far Cry’s Next Multiplayer Could Learn From XDefiant’s Premise
Ubisoft used the full leverage of its many gaming IPs to complement the gameplay ofXDefiant, with the title’s in-game factions coming from the likes ofWatch Dogs,Rainbow Six,Splinter Cell, and evenAssassin’s Creed.Far Crywas even the inspiration for its own faction inXDefiant, specificallyFar Cry 6’s Libertad group, coming with its own range of special and passive abilities that offer some variety toXDefiant’s team compositions.
Despite some fans initially regardingXDefiantas a worthy rival of dominant FPS franchises likeCall of Duty, the game’s impending shut-down does not have to spell the end for some of the title’s most intriguing multiplayer concepts. TheFar Cryfranchise has flirted with the concept of online modes in recent years to some success, withFar Cry 5’s Arcade feature even allowing players to create their own experiences, adding an excellent level of replayability and community to the 2018 title.
2021’sFar Cry 6toned this down with a simple focus on cooperative multiplayer, and the next entry to the IP could pull from the iconic factions ofFar Cry’s past in the same wayXDefiantdid for Ubisoft’s many franchises.Far Cryhas explored a huge range of locations, timelines, and people over the years, with most games often featuring the likes of freedom fighters and tyrannical regimes, and these could come together to make up the playable groups of an ambitiousFar Crymultiplayer experience.
Far Cry’s Faction Variety is Perfect For An All-Star Multiplayer Mode
An experience like this could usethe likes of Vaas Montenegro’s pirates, the Seed family cult, the Blood Dragons, and Pagan Min’s Royal Army as the basis of in-game factions or abilities, with these vastly different groups providing an untold amount of gameplay variety in a multiplayer context. These kinds of factions would likely have eventually been added toXDefianthad the game continued its post-launch content ambitions, and Ubisoft can still bring life to this concept in the reported upcoming 2026Far Cryproject.
While not officially confirmed, the nextFar Crytitle is rumored to focus on overhauls to the franchise’s usual content and core mechanics, making an ambitious multiplayer mode the perfect match for the title.
The rich history and variety of theFar Cryfranchiseare not celebrated enough, and a multiplayer experience that uses the IP’s wide range of prior factions could be a fantastic and engaging tribute to its legacy. While the more wide-spread inspiration thatXDefianttook from Ubisoft’s many franchises did not work out, a smaller-scale multiplayer experience in the nextFar Cryfocusing on the best ofFar Cry’s past is a logical way to preserve the core premise ofXDefiantwith much less risk and industry pressure.
