As CeeCee Smith came up in gaming — both as a gamer and industry professional — she found a community in the women-centric PMS Clan that helped her realize two things: that there were career paths in the industry for people like her (avid fans with no art or coding skills), and that there was space for women to love and excel at first-person shooter games like Halo and Call of Duty, which were rising in popularity at the time. “[Video games] are all about that challenge to complete objectives,” she said during Thursday’s Refinery29 Twitch stream. “It was about being transported to different worlds, and from that, you constantly want to be doing better than last time … That’s kind of where [my passion] started in my soul.”
Now working as the Live Operations Associate Director on Ubisoft’s upcoming arena shooter XDefiant — where she does things like study player behavior, enhancing user experience, preparing a calendar of new updates, events and features, listening to feedback and keeping players engaged — Smith is driven by giving back to the fan community she was so embedded in. As she explained to R29 Entertainment Director and Twitch host Melissah Yang, XDefiant is a free-to-play FPS game that will be available on Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. First revealed in 2021, anticipation around the game has exploded as beta tests went out earlier this year, which saw over 1 million participants. Ubisoft initially announced that the title would be made available in the summer of 2023, but no official date has been specified yet — something Smith confirmed on stream.
With XDefiant, Smith and the rest of the Ubisoft team are united by one goal. “It’s all about going back to the roots for what so many of us on the team love: arena shooters that are fast-paced and super smooth,” she said, adding that gameplay is designed to be customizable (you can pick and adjust your faction, abilities, etc.) and adaptable to the way each individual wants to play. The title is also special for Ubisoft because, although the company has many FPS games available, this will be their first one in a high-adrenaline arena setting. “We really wanted to build a strong pace that we could evolve with the community as a live game,” Smith said.
As she tells it, the community relationship is what XDefiant will live and die on. “I think there is this kind of movement about listening to more player feedback, and that’s been at the core of our philosophy from the beginning,” she said. “Listening to the players and giving them what they want is what’s going to separate us from others.”
Building on that idea, the development team has been focused on creating enjoyable experiences for both newer players and long-time gamers. For example, there’s a whole team dedicated to designing features and interactions that will be seamless for hardcore competitive players. And instead of prioritizing the amount of time played, gamers can advance their ultra based on the impact of their contributions and kills, setting the stage for big moments that are rewarding and fun to experience.
Ultimately, Smith hopes that this player-first approach to XDefiant will also help bring even more girls and women gamers into the fold, evoking the experience she had years ago. “I can only hope that underrepresented minorities as a whole in the gaming industry really take to the game and find a place in the game that’s safe and fun for them to be and exist in. It’s so important for us to create that environment, not just in the communities we create online, but in the games that we make,” she said. “First-person shooters are not known for their welcoming, non-toxic environments. There are so many women and non-binary communities that exist. I love saying that we’re not unicorns anymore, because we’re more mainstream. There’s more of us that exist, there’s more of us hopping on mics—even though that can be a negative experience. Put yourself out there if you can, make yourself available, and don’t be afraid to make friends.”
Refinery29 Twitch streams Thursdays at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET.