Mark Rubin, the lead designer of Ubisoft’s now-dead free-to-play shooter XDefiant, has left the games industry following his project’s death.
Sector sat down with Glen Schofield—creator of Dead Space and The Callisto Protocol—during the Game Developers Session (GDS) in Prague to discuss the evolution of the game industry, the current challenges of AAA development, and why it's become so hard to get original ideas off the ground in today’s risk-averse environment.
We recently spoke to one of the embedded QA testers who worked on XDefiant, and they detailed what the development process was like and how the team hated the Hot Shot game mode.
Wccftech interviewed Koei Tecmo about their upcoming game WILD HEARTS S, gathering their first thoughts on the Nintendo Switch 2 console.
This new tech, in 2025, is more comparable to 2020 tech than 2013 tech.
*tip toes over that bar*
Also, why are all the comparisons to PS4 and not Xbox One?
PS4 is more powerful than the XB1, S2 is more powerful than both, so why not use the higher of the two?
Probably because people who owned an XBO and not a PS4 don't really know what it means. The assumption is that everyone is as knowledgeable as journalists or gaming news junkies. Gaming is mainstream, that means that mass majority of people don't know these specifics, only online talking points.
And the PS4 and XBO are the closest in power systems we've ever had, so this 'more powerful' is so small, it really isn't the big talking point people think it is.
Which is great for a handheld/hybrid! Some people still stick to Digital Foundry's PS4 comparison comment as gospel, back when they were just watching trailers and hadn't even had their hands on it yet.
With that said, this interview doesn't go into very much depth on this. I'd like to see more analysis, but so far I'm really impressed with the performance since I got mine on Friday. Truth be told, having a PS4 Pro level handheld is enough for me. Anything beyond is icing. I'm not looking to replace my PS5 or PC.
For how thin switch 2 is it’s impressive especially when it’s stronger than steam deck and cost less
Steam Deck is cheaper at $399. Switch 2 also uses cheaper materials. See joycon drift still being an issue. You'll also save a ton more money on software alone with the Steam Deck.
Honestly, if the Steam Deck was released today, it likely would at least match the Switch 2 in areas where it outperforms the Steam Deck but still have more advantages. Main thing holding back the Deck is the cores and resolution, because it still has the better CPU and GPU otherwise.
And the ps5 was comparable to a PC that could be built over 5 years before it came out lol, how do you think consoles stay affordable?
I notice it always ps4 or ps4 pro but never xbox one x which is more powetful then the ps4 pro.
And it’s also in someways stronger than series S. Xbox one x is a special console that was never fully utilised and has 1,5 times more teraflops than series s.
Going to ubisoft was your mistake
Cya bozo
So much wrong with Xdefiant. At one point they started using the worst ideas for their game and FPS fans saw it in the previews.
No offense but if Xdefiant represents your best the industry is better off for it.
"We had other issues though as well that we tried to be transparent about. For one we had crippling tech debt using an engine that wasn’t designed for what we were doing...Another issue we had was having the right resources to make content for the game."
Ubi set them up for failure out of the gate. And he says they had stuff in the pipes that should have been at launch means Ubi rushed it out and the devs didn't.