Despite all the rumors, there were always denials, but now the time has come: the shooter XDefiant is over. In addition, numerous developers are being laid off.
In the past few weeks and months there have been repeated rumors and speculations that things are not going well with the free-to-play shooter XDefiant and that it could be discontinued. There have been repeated denials from the makers that the topic is more heated than it actually is and that the game isn't all that bad. But the reality is different: XDefiant goes offline.
Ubisoft officially announced in the last few hours that the PvP shooter would be discontinued. The servers will remain online until June 3, 2025, then they will be taken offline and it will finally be over. With the announcement of the discontinuation of the title, the option to download the game from the Internet has already been removed; new players can no longer register. Despite the game's discontinuation, existing XDefiant players can still expect the new game content from Season 3 in the "near future".
Naturally, the whole thing has harsher consequences for the members of the development team. Nearly 300 employees will be laid off by Ubisoft, including 143 in San Francisco and 134 in its Osaka and Sydney offices. The other half of the XDefiant team will be reassigned to other tasks at Ubisoft.
Marie-Sophie de-Aubert from Ubisoft said: "Despite an encouraging start, the team's passionate work and a loyal fan base, we were unable to attract and retain enough players to compete at the level long-term which we are targeting in a very demanding free-to-play shooter market. In the end, the game is simply too far from achieving the required results and justifying significant further investment."
In the context of the above-mentioned layoffs, Ubisoft will even completely close the studios in San Francisco and Osaka. A skeleton team will continue to support XDefiant until the servers are shut down in June next year.
What does that mean for the players? Anyone who purchased the Ultimate Founder's Pack, which cost around 70 euros, should receive a full refund; Producer Mark Rubin confirms this in a letter to the community. All other purchases made within the last 30 days will also be refunded. However, the Founder's Pack and Founder's Pack Elite are not eligible for a refund.
In this trailer, Ubisoft gives you an overview of the signal map in XDefiant.
