The future of the development team is in question at XDefiant.
In 2021, Ubisoft unveiled XDefiant — a free-to-play project inspired by old arcade first-person shooters. After several delays, the game was finally released on PC and consoles in May of this year. However, a little over six months later, Ubisoft is discontinuing support for the game.
The free-to-play project, developed by Ubisoft San Francisco, attracted more than 10 million players in its first two weeks. Ubisoft even called it as one of the reasons for the «successful start of its fiscal year. However, by the end of August, there were reports of a decrease in the number of players.
«It was an incredible challenge from the very beginning», — wrote XDefiant executive producer Mark Rubin on Twitter. «Not only did we try to shake up the genre by removing skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) and bringing back a more classic arcade shooter experience, but we also dove into the high-risk and potentially lucrative realm of free-to-play games».
«Many free-to-play games take a long time to find their niche and become profitable. It’s a long road that Ubisoft and the teams working on the game were prepared for until recently. But unfortunately, this path has become too difficult to continue reasonably,» he added.
Although Rubin did not address the fate of the development team at Ubisoft San Francisco, according to message Insider-Gaming, a new wave of layoffs will take place at Ubisoft in February 2025. This will affect both the main and auxiliary studios involved in the development of XDefiant.
XDefiant is no longer available for new players on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5, and the in-game microtransaction store no longer accepts payments. However, those who already have the game in their libraries will be able to use the servers until June 3, 2025. Interestingly, the third season content update will still be released for existing players.
Ubisoft is now offering a refund to everyone who purchased the game’s Ultimate Founder’s Pack. In addition, all in-game purchases or DLC made after November 3, 2024 will be refunded. More details about the process can be found on the newly created page FAQ Ubisoft.
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