CoD legend ACHES joins Ubisoft as developer on new first-person shooter

Jacob Hale
aches playing at MLG LAN with XDefiant logo

Call of Duty legend and two-time world champion Patrick ‘ACHES’ Price has officially joined game developer Ubisoft to work on an upcoming first-person shooter with them.

In January 2022, ACHES officially announced his retirement from competitive Call of Duty. In a career that spanned over a decade, with multiple championships — including two world championships in 2013 and 2018 — to his name.

Since then, he has become a co-host of The Flank alongside fellow retired pro Thomas ‘ZooMaa’ Paparatto as well as part of the talent on Dexerto’s own Reverse Sweep Call of Duty League show.

Outside of his content, though, ACHES has been spending the last few months working on Tom Clancy’s XDefiant for Ubisoft as a Game Designer with a focus on esports. In March, he announced that the role had become a full-time one.

In the statement released on Wednesday, March 2, he said: “It is my pleasure to announce that I have joined the Ubisoft San Francisco studio. I’ll be working on XDefiant which is being led by industry veteran Mark Rubin, who helped create some of my favorite shooters ever.”

Mark Rubin was previously executive producer at Infinity Ward for 10 years, and worked on classic CoD releases including CoD 4, Modern Warfare 2 and 3, and Ghosts.

ACHES revealed that he is working on various aspects of the game including cameras/controls, game modes, weapons, factions, and more within the upcoming title.

Players can register for closed beta access for XDefiant across PC, Xbox and PlayStation consoles, though no release date is currently set in stone.

Ubisoft announced on January 31 that they consolidated their global esports operations into one designated esports team, with the intention of building out more competitive gaming operations in the future. It looks as though CoD legend ACHES could be helping them to spearhead that move.

About The Author

Jacob is Dexerto’s UK Editor and Call of Duty esports specialist. With a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Creative Writing, he previously worked as an Editor at Ginx TV. Jacob was nominated for Journalist of the Year at the 2023 Esports Awards. Contact: jacob.hale@dexerto.com.