by theygamesDespite Ubisoft’s success in supporting a multiplayer FPS game for many years with Rainbow Six Siege, it was always up against it with Call of Duty rival XDefiant. Now, following reports of dwindling player numbers and in-game revenue, Ubisoft has confirmed that the game is shutting down. While existing players will still be able to play it for the next few months, the game is being taken down from storefronts today.
While the new Call of Duty, Black Ops 6, has seen my playtime in XDefiant come to an abrupt halt, I’ve really enjoyed the time I’ve spent in the FPS game despite some glaring gameplay issues – chiefly its frustrating net code. Since its launch in May of this year, it’s impressed me with its fast-paced gameplay and more traditional map design. However, in recent months reports have been claiming that time is running out for XDefiant, and today, December 3 marks the end of the line for the arena shooter. Well, sort of.
While the game is being removed from storefronts and new account registrations are not being accepted, those who already have the game installed and have an account will be able to keep playing until June 2025. In a post announcing XDefiant’s closure, executive producer Mark Rubin says that Season 3 content will still be delivered to existing players at a yet to be confirmed date. He also says that, due to Ubisoft being unable to deliver all the content it promised, those that bought the Ultimate Founders Pack will be offered full refunds. On top of that, any purchases of any kind made in the last 30 days will be refunded too.
“Free-to-play, in particular, is a long journey,” Rubin says in the post. “Many free-to-play games take a long time to find their footing and become profitable. It’s a long journey that Ubisoft and the teams working on the game were prepared to make until very recently. But unfortunately, the journey became too much to sensibly continue.”
While this decision may have felt inevitable to many, it’s worth noting that Rubin was denying reports of XDefiant being on borrowed time as recently as mid-October. At the time, he said the team was “super focused” on improving the game’s tech issues and was internally discussing “year two plans.”
Unfortunately, the decision to scrap XDefiant also means job losses are coming. Ubisoft’s San Francisco and Osaka studios have both been closed, according to journalist Stephen Totilo. While some developers are being moved onto other Ubisoft projects, Totilo says 117 people will be laid off.
It’s an incredibly sad end to XDefiant’s short life because I think it had many of the ingredients needed to be a truly great shooter that people would want to come back to. The tech issues were the biggest thing holding it back, though, and while it may have been able to win players from Call of Duty if the series was having an off-year, the extremely popular release of Black Ops 6 in late October was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’m fortunate that I’ve got XDefiant installed, so I’ll definitely give it a few more spins before June. However, it’s disappointing to know that it’ll never reach its full potential, and that even more job losses are occurring as a result.