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

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.

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."

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.

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.