Ubisoft's F2P Shooter Defiant Discontinued

Ubisoft's free-to-play shooter, XDefiant, is shutting down. Servers will be decommissioned on June 3rd, 2025, marking the end of its relatively short lifespan. This decision follows a period of declining player numbers and a failure to meet Ubisoft's expectations within the competitive free-to-play market.

The shutdown process begins December 3rd, 2024, with the cessation of new player registrations, downloads, and in-game purchases. Ubisoft has committed to full refunds for Ultimate Founders Pack purchases and all in-game currency (VC) and DLC purchases made since November 3rd, 2024. These refunds are expected to be processed within eight weeks, with a deadline of January 28th, 2025. Players who haven't received their refunds by this date should contact Ubisoft support. Note that only the Ultimate Founders Pack is eligible for a refund.

Ubisoft's Chief Studios and Portfolio Officer, Marie-Sophie Waubert, attributed the closure to the game's inability to sustain a player base large enough to justify further investment. The highly competitive free-to-play FPS market proved too challenging for XDefiant to thrive in.

The impact extends beyond the game itself. Approximately half of XDefiant's development team will transition to other roles within Ubisoft. However, this also involves the closure of the San Francisco and Osaka studios and a significant downsizing of the Sydney studio, resulting in substantial job losses. This follows previous layoffs at other Ubisoft studios in August 2024.

Despite its initial success, which included breaking internal records with 5 million users shortly after launch and a total of 15 million players over its lifetime, XDefiant ultimately failed to achieve long-term profitability. Executive Producer Mark Rubin acknowledged the challenges of the free-to-play market and expressed gratitude to the community for their support. He highlighted the positive aspect of the game's community interactions, emphasizing the respectful and open communication between players and developers.

Season 3 of XDefiant will still launch as planned, although details remain scarce. Speculation points to potential content from the Assassin's Creed franchise. However, access to this final season will be limited to players who purchased the game before December 3rd, 2024. Interestingly, early reports from August 2024, suggesting the game's decline due to low player counts, were initially denied by Rubin, but ultimately proved prescient. The release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 between XDefiant's Season 2 and Season 3 likely further impacted its performance. Ultimately, Ubisoft's decision reflects a strategic retreat from a project that, despite its initial promise, failed to reach its projected success.