Ubisoft’s XDefiant shooter loses Tom Clancy name

XDefiant, Ubisoft’s upcoming 6v6 arena shooter, has lost the “Tom Clancy” originally attached to its name. Ubisoft revealed the change in a recent blog about upcoming play tests for the new game.

XDefiant is a faction-based shooter described as “fast-paced firefights meets punk-rock moshpit” in its reveal video last summer. But with the inclusion of factions from Tom Clancy Ubisoft games like Splinter Cell, The Division, and Ghost Recon, “punk-rock moshpit” didn’t seem to mesh with the brand — a complaint some fans leveraged against the game when it was announced.

In its new blog, the studio revealed that the game will include non-Clancy game factions, which led to the removal of the author’s name from the title. While Ubisoft hasn’t revealed any new factions coming to the game or what series they’ll be based on, we could possibly see some Assassin’s Creed-inspired content in XDefiant due to this change. Maybe some Rabbids, if we’re lucky. A representative from Ubisoft also confirmed to Axios that the Clancy-inspired factions will still be present in XDefiant, despite the name change.

The loss of a single name may seem like a small change, and it’s not like Ubisoft hasn’t played fast and loose with the Clancy name in the past — some of the Division and Rainbow Six powers have more in common with magic than modern military hardware — but it should help set a better tone to match the game’s bombastic advertising.

Outside of the announced insider playtest (which invites went out for starting March 15), Ubisoft hasn’t revealed a timeline for XDefiant’s release. The game will eventually come to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Amazon Luna, and Google Stadia. Ubisoft has already promised cross-play between all versions of XDefiant.