The struggling arcade shooter has finally been sunset.
After a tumultuous year of declining player count numbers and low in-game sales, the arcade first-person shooter XDefiant has finally been given a shut down date. The rumors of XDefiant ceasing operations have been floating around for the better part of 2024, but the lead developer at Ubisoft, Mark Rubin, repeatedly stated the studio was looking forward to releasing new content.
Whether that was the case at one point or another is irrelevant, as XDefiant is starting plans to stop operations on Dec. 3. By mid-2025, the servers will go offline and that will be the end of the game once called the "Call of Duty killer."
XDefiant to sunset operations and shut down
The announcement to sunset XDefiant came from Mark Rubin on X, with the official game account reiterating Rubin's statement shortly after. Rubin told fans that today, Dec. 3, will be the start of the sunset process for XDefiant. This means starting today, no player will be able to download XDefiant or register an account.
Players who have XDefiant downloaded will be able to continue to access the game until June 3, 2025. When that date comes, the servers will go offline and no one will ever be able to play XDefiant again. During this time, Season 3 for XDefiant will be released. This is the last major update the game will receive.
In addition to XDefiant's downloads being unavailable, players who purchased the Ultimate Founders Pack or any store bundles in the past 30 days will be given full refunds. Those refunds could take up to eight weeks to be delivered, but make sure your payment information is correct if you are expecting a refund.
As a result of the sunset process, it's reported that dozens of employees working on XDefiant at Ubisoft were already laid off today. However, up to 277 total employees will be laid off by the time XDefiant is fully shut down in the summer of 2025.
The XDefiant employees that remain at Ubisoft from now until the summer will act as a skeleton crew, maintaining the game until the servers are taken offline. Any employee that isn't laid off will reportedly be moved to other projects at Ubisoft.
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Why is XDefiant shutting down?
According to reports and Mark Rubin himself, XDefiant has seen a slow drop in player count since the game's full launch earlier this year. This is a death sentence for any free-to-play game, as the business model for these games rely on in-game sales, which only stay steady with higher player counts.
However, Rubin has denied that XDefiant was in rough shape even up until October of 2024. A report from Insider Gaming claimed that XDefiant was on borrowed time in the second half of 2024, but this was refuted by Ubisoft. Rubin stated that the team was committed to delivering more content to the game in future seasons, seemingly denying the rumors of a shut down.
In the end, it seems XDefiant couldn't keep up with the FPS market, which continues to be dominated by Call of Duty. Although, the developers likely also lost players due to consistent issues that plagued the game from launch. Problems with the netcode, movement nerfs, and weapon balancing are all issues with XDefiant to this day.
That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more news and updates.
