13/12/2024

Ubisoft shuts down XDefiant after the game has only been online since May

Ubisoft schaltet XDefiant ab, nachdem das Game erst seit Mai online ist

As announced by Ubisoft, the free FPS XDefiant will be discontinued, although the game was only released in the middle of this year.

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XDefiant is shut down despite successful launch

It seems we live in a time where your beloved live service game can be cancelled any day. After the disastrous end of Concord Ubisoft has now decided to discontinue support for one of its games.

Even if XDefiant was only released in May of this year, Ubisoft has already announced the end of development and support for the free-to-play team shooter. In a closed beta last year, the game was praised by more than 1 million players - but apparently the game still failed to fulfil Ubisoft's expectations.

The game is already no longer accepting new players and will shut down its servers completely in June 2025.
After a delayed launch, the game was played by more than 10 million players in the first two weeks and, according to Ubisoft „Exceeded expectations thanks to acquisition and strong average revenue per gaming session“.

Unfortunately, the game does not seem to be able to maintain this number and has dropped to less than 20,000 active players.

Season 3 content and refunds

In a statement, Ubisoft explains:
„The game will be available to all players who register before 3 December 2024 at XDefiant will continue to be available. All features, including progression, events, rewards and achievements, will continue to be available until 3 June 2025. Season 3 of the game will be released as planned, and anyone who has purchased the Ultimate Founders Pack, VC or DLC in the last month will receive a refund.“

Closure of production studios

Similar to the end of Firewalk Studios’ Concord the shutdown will also be associated with studio closures and job losses. As Ubisoft has announced, the „difficult consequences“ lead to the fact that „our production studios in San Francisco and Osaka will be closed and our production site in Sydney will be shut down, with 143 people in San Francisco and an expected 134 people in Osaka and Sydney leaving the company“.

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Hopefully this doesn't become the new normal for live service games that fail to meet publishers' expectations - both for our entertainment and for the good of the people who worked on those games.

(Image source: Ubisoft)

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