Publisher Ubisoft reveals that it will shut down free-to-play XDefiant in the first half of 2025 and lay off half of the development team.
The game's servers will remain open until June 3, 2025, but it is now no longer available for download. The studio has also decided to close player registration to prevent new players from coming in.
Ubisoft To Shut Down XDefiant
Despite its inevitable closure, XDefiant is still giving players access to its third-season content sometime in the "near future."
Ubisoft also announced that it will be laying off almost 300 employees; 143 in the San Francisco office and 134 across its Osaka and Sydney branches.
The remaining members of the XDefiant production team will be transferred to other roles within the company.
Chief studios and portfolio officer Marie-Sophie de Waubert said that the game was not able to attract enough players despite an encouraging start and the team's hard work.
XDefiant was not able to sustain enough players to let it become a long-term competitor to other games in the genre. She added that it is much too far from reaching the results that were intended for it and to justify further investment, according to Polygon.
The representative said that the sunsetting of XDefiant brings difficult consequences for the teams who were working on the shooter. She expressed her gratitude to all of the people who put in the effort to try and make the game as successful as it could be.
Failure To Attract Players
De Waubert said that developing Games-as-a-Service experiences remains a pillar of the studio's strategy. She noted that they have had significant success with other titles, such as Rainbow Six Siege, For Honor, and many others.
She said that Ubisoft is committed to taking the necessary steps in order to put itself back on a path of growth, innovation, and creativity moving forward. What this means is continuing to radically evolve their mindset for Production and Business practices, IGN said.
The development means that Season 3 will be the last for XDefiant and only a skeleton crew will maintain the game until its official closure next year. Reports also noted that Ubisoft is planning to offer players refunds for cosmetic items and other purchases at a later date.
The game faced an uphill climb since the release of Season 1 when it suffered from a lack of players that forced the team behind it to cut costs, according to Insider Gaming.
