Ubisoft shuts down its shooter XDefiant and will refund players.

Ubisoft has decided to end development and discontinue its free team-based shooter game, XDefiant, despite having officially launched it in the spring of this year. Similar to what happened with Hyper Scape, XDefiant had high expectations, and during its closed beta last year, the company reported that over one million players had registered. However, the game will quickly disappear, as no new players will be accepted starting today, and the servers are expected to close completely in June next year.

Despite a delayed launch, Ubisoft communicated that XDefiant achieved over 10 million players within its first two weeks, exceeding expectations due to its user acquisition and strong average revenue per session. However, that momentum did not last, and by autumn, rumors of difficulties began to surface, with Insider Gaming reporting that the number of concurrent players across all platforms had fallen below 20,000.

Ubisoft has stated that "the game will remain available for all players who joined XDefiant before December 3, 2024. All features, including progression, events, rewards, and achievements, will continue to be available until June 3, 2025." Additionally, the planned content for Season 3 will release as scheduled, and the company will refund those who purchased the Ultimate Founders Pack, as well as those who bought VC and DLC in the last month.

This closure also entails job losses. According to Ubisoft, "difficult consequences" are leading to the "closure of our production studios in San Francisco and Osaka, as well as a reduction at our production site in Sydney, resulting in the departure of 143 people in San Francisco and the potential departure of 134 in Osaka and Sydney."