The announcement many have feared for months is now here and Ubisoft will officially sunset its arcade shooter, XDefiant.
After a few betas and test periods, the game fully launched as a free-to-play title in May 2024. The reception was mostly positive, with the game rapidly breaking internal records like achieving 1 million players in the first few hours after launch.
However, it all went downhill from there, as post-launch support wasn't what fans expected and the player base started to decline rapidly. Rumors about the game shutting down started circulating back in October and now the decision has been taken.
Mark Rubin, one of the game's executive producers, shared the news on X with a lengthy post explaining that new downloads and purchases have already been suspended. Season 3 content will still be released at a later date and this will probably be the last batch of post-launch additions.
All players with access can continue enjoying the title until the servers shut down on June 3, 2025. The game's official website has been updated to reflect the news and has an FAQ section to explain any other details and doubts players may have.
As a result, Ubisoft San Francisco's production studio and Ubisoft Osaka have shut down and around 277 individuals will lose their jobs according to Stephen Totilo on X. Half of the XDefiant development team has been moved to other projects within the company.
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