XDefiant is shutting down as Ubisoft closes San Francisco and Osaka offices following "long journey" of free-to-play struggles, up to 177 devs impacted
Ubisoft has announced the "sunsetting" of its free-to-play first-person shooter XDefiant. Likewise, Ubisoft San Francisco and Ubisoft Osaka are shutting down while Ubisoft's Sydney office is ramping down.
XDefiant released back in May and reached a million unique players within just two and a half hours, a record for Ubisoft despite the game's middling reviews.
In August, rumors began to circulate that Ubisoft was planning to shut down the game following layoffs at its San Francisco office - where the majority of XDefiant developers worked. Unfortunately, that has now been confirmed with an official announcement from Ubisoft that cites XDefiant's free-to-play monetization structure as the primary cause.
Starting today, players won't be able to download or register to play XDefiant, and existing players won't be able to buy anything. Season 3 is still set to launch at an unknown date and servers will stay online until June 3rd, 2025. Refunds are being offered to anyone who bought the Ultimate Founders Pack and to all players who bought anything in-game within the last 30 days.
Dear Players,Important message: XDEFIANT IS SUNSETTING!Thank you for your incredible support and dedication to XDEFIANT. We regret to inform you that we are initiating the sunset process starting today, December 3, 2024.As a result, new downloads, player registrations and… pic.twitter.com/h0kXRowL5TDecember 3, 2024
In an email obtained by IGN, Ubisoft chief studios and portfolio officer Marie-Sophie de Waubert broke the news to employees and revealed the studio closures, which will impact up to 177 developers.
"Despite an encouraging start, the team’s passionate work, and a committed fan base, we’ve not been able to attract and retain enough players in the long run to compete at the level we aim for in the very demanding free-to-play FPS market," said Waubert. "As a result, the game is too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment, and we are
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