XDefiant gets PEGI Approval — CEO Mark Rubin Clarifies what this means

XDefiant has passed the PEGI approval process, but there is no release date set.

The buzz around the highly anticipated game XDefiant has intensified recently with the approval of its PEGI rating. This development prompted speculation among excited players, prompting an official clarification from Mark Rubin, the Executive Producer of XDefiant. 

Amidst a competitive gaming landscape, which includes the presence of Activision's upcoming game, Modern Warfare III, XDefiant has emerged as a standout title scheduled for a 2023 release. While the development team had previously hinted at a summer 2023 launch, uncertainty loomed as the season's end drew near without an official release date in sight. The hopes of players were briefly uplifted when news broke that the game's PEGI rating had been granted, leading many to believe that the game's launch was coming soon.

However, these high hopes have returned to reality after Mark Rubin's candid update on the matter. Taking to 'X' (formerly known as Twitter), Rubin aimed to dispel any misunderstandings about the game's release timeline.

So I've seen the PEGI approvals going live and creating rumors about the game being approved. This is not the case. It literally just means that PEGI has approved the rating that they have assigned to the game. It's completely disconnected from Submission.

— Mark Rubin (@PixelsofMark) August 29, 2023

Rubin clarified that the approval of XDefiant's PEGI rating is an isolated event that does not directly affect the game's submission status. Essentially, the PEGI approval signifies that the assigned age rating has been greenlit. The game's submission process, a crucial step developers undertake before a launch, remains separate from this rating approval. Rubin emphasized that this ongoing submission process holds the key to determining the eventual launch date, making it subject to change on the completion of this critical phase.

Despite the lack of a concrete release date, Rubin offered a glimmer of hope by expressing his intention to provide another update in the near future. This raised speculation that an impending release date might be disclosed, especially as the original target of a summer 2023 launch grows increasingly unlikely as August draws to a close.

As the community awaits further communications from Mark Rubin and the Ubisoft team behind XDefiant, we will update you once additional details regarding the game and its release timeline surface.

Here are a few questions Rubin answered about the process:

So for a new game that isn't a sequel and isn't built on an engine that has already gone through cert it can take several months. Generally games have to go through 2 submissions and then sometimes even after 2 subs you still have to do a Day 1 patch.

— Mark Rubin (@PixelsofMark) August 29, 2023

No, you will be able to grind any new factions that come out. There are 4 free factions at launch and 1 pay/grind faction (Dedsec) and then we will be launching a new faction every season.

— Mark Rubin (@PixelsofMark) August 30, 2023