Ubisoft will shut down its free-to-play shooter XDefiant, Ubisoft introduced Tuesday. Servers will stay on till June 3, 2025, however the sport will not be supplied for obtain, and participant registration will likely be closed. Despite the sunsetting, XDefiant gamers will get entry to its third-season content material someday within the “close to future.” Nearly 300 individuals — 143 within the San Francisco workplace and 134 throughout Ubisoft’s Osaka and Sydney areas — will likely be laid off. The different half of the XDefiant manufacturing group will transfer onto different roles at Ubisoft, in response to chief studios and portfolio officer Marie-Sophie de Waubert.
“Despite an encouraging begin, the group’s passionate work, and a dedicated fan base, we’ve not been in a position to appeal to and retain sufficient gamers in the long term to compete on the stage we intention for within the very demanding free-to-play FPS market,” de Waubert wrote in an inside discover revealed on the Ubisoft web site. “As a end result, the sport is just too far-off from reaching the outcomes required to allow additional vital funding, and we’re asserting that we’ll be sunsetting it.”
With XDefiant shutting down and the a whole lot of layoffs, Ubisoft mentioned it’s closing its San Francisco and Osaka manufacturing studios fully. Insider Gaming reported {that a} “skeleton crew” will likely be saved on to maintain XDefiant working till its complete closure.
XDefiant gamers who bought the $69.99 Ultimate Founder’s Pack will get a full, computerized refund, in response to XDefiant government producer Mark Rubin in a letter to the group. All purchases made inside the prior 30 days will likely be refunded, too. However, in response to a Ubisoft FAQ, “the Founder’s Pack and Founder’s Pack Elite should not eligible for refunds.” Rubin mentioned gamers ought to anticipate any refunds inside eight weeks.
XDefiant was launched on May 21 of this 12 months, following an announcement of the mission in 2021. At launch, the sport was seemingly successful: It reportedly reached 1 million gamers inside hours of its official launch, in response to Insider Gaming. No official participant or income numbers have been launched, however Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot mentioned throughout an investor name in September that the sport didn’t meet expectations. In October, Rubin posted on X that numbers had been down as a result of “little or no advertising and marketing,” a technique designed to “get the sport in a greater place” earlier than ramping up advertising and marketing to draw new and lapsed gamers. He wrote that he was “crystal clear” in that there have been no plans to shut XDefiant after its fourth season, following an Insider Gaming report.
In its most up-to-date earnings report in late October, Ubisoft reported that its gross sales had been down almost 20%, however that engagement metrics for its video games had been up. Ubisoft additionally reported that it decreased its workers by greater than 2,000 individuals within the prior 24 months — a quantity that’s possible a combination of each layoffs and voluntary departures. Ubisoft employs 18,666 individuals as of September, with the corporate reportedly “on observe” to proceed decreasing prices. (Staff retention, it mentioned, was good — “near historic ranges.) Star Wars Outlaws underperformed, Ubisoft mentioned, however stayed quiet on the standing of XDefiant — so quiet on the sport that an analyst questioned Guillemont on the sport’s dwindling success. “XDefiant is behind our expectations however the games-as-a-service technique stays core,” Guillemont mentioned on the time. That line nonetheless seems to be true: de Waubert mentioned within the discover to workers on Tuesday that games-as-a-service stays “a pillar” of Ubisoft’s technique, citing success with Rainbow Six, The Crew, and For Honor.
