XDefiants Devs Have Revealed Their Way Of Dealing With ‘Snaking’

Two-time Call of Duty World Champion and XDefiant developer Patrick “ACHES” Price has revealed their implementation of a solution to snaking which has tormented Call of Duty for many titles now.

Ubisoft’s newest FPS game, XDefiant, has been making waves since its closed beta release. It’s even surpassed Call of Duty’s viewership on Twitch, and fans of the series are thrilled to have a new competitor in the arena.

XDefiant has received excellent reviews so far, boasting 14 maps, 18 weapons, and lightning-fast gameplay. And get this, the project was led by Mark Rubin, who has worked on CoD classics like CoD 4, Modern Warfare 2 and 3.

But XDefiant isn’t just a clone of CoD; it takes inspiration from the popular shooter and adds its own twists. ACHES, who used to be a professional player and is now a game designer, has created a feature that’s sure to excite CoD fans. XDefiant punishes players for “snaking” and spamming, which refers to players who quickly switch between prone and crouching positions to gain an advantage without getting caught.

This tactic has become prevalent in high-level CoD play, and it’s been a source of frustration for many players, including Call of Duty League pros. During a Major IV Qualifiers match, a player named Carson “Brack” Newberry used snaking excessively, and the competitive community didn’t react kindly to it.

An XDefiant player recently criticized the game for penalizing jumping and sliding, but ACHES explained the reasoning behind the design decision. The feature is meant to stop spam behaviour, but it shouldn’t limit players from utilizing great movement. Aches elaborated that players who spam sliding, jumping, or crouching will receive an ADS sway penalty, which would make it harder for them to aim.

Want to address and provide context for everyone to see and give feedback. So, this is currently by design. The reason for this is to stop egregious spam behavior. However we do not want to limit the player from utilizing great movement, as I'm sure you've seen (cont.) https://t.co/ujuKAiLpOD

— PATTYP (@ACHES) April 17, 2023

Call of Duty could benefit from implementing a similar feature, as it would theoretically eliminate snaking entirely. Aches also mentioned that the feature is still a work in progress and that they’re open to feedback and suggestions on how to improve it.