The sequel to the immensely popular 2007 multiplayer shooter was slated for launch sometime in 2020. Crossfire is the biggest game most people in the west may never have heard of. Launched in 2007 by South Korean developer Smilegate, the free-to-play military FPS became a huge hit in the east, taking its home country and China, among others, by storm. Crossfire peaked when it became the single most played game by player count after that number crossed 1 billion. Despite this, the title failed to make an impact in the west when it was eventually released here.
Though still popular today, 13 years after launch, Smilegate had released many spin-offs and follow-ups since spanning multiple genres, mostly on mobile following a similar freemium monetization pattern. CrossfireX will be the first main instalment since the release of the original, and will include a single-player campaign being developed by Remedy, of all studios! Due to the franchise’s popularity in the east, this release would have been a major boon for the performance of the Xbox Series X in Asia, which has been a PlayStation stronghold for a very long time - understandably. This delay probably won’t hurt the console in the long run, but we imagine it will definitely leave its mark on holiday season sales figures.
Microsoft has been distancing itself from the idea of console exclusives more and more as they weave the gaming experience on Xbox and PC closer and closer together, but haven’t abandoned the concept entirely as CrossfireX shows. The delay itself is understandable - Smilegate cited development difficulties due to the restrictions imposed to combat COVID, which already caused multiple major AAA delays across the industry this year, sometimes several times for the same game. Smilegate hasn’t specified when in 2021 we can expect CrossfireX to launch.
