Ubisoft lays off over 270 employees as it closes multiple studios and shuts down XDefiant

by Danny Craig · 12/4/24, 10:55 AM
Ubisoft lays off over 270 employees as it closes multiple studios and shuts down XDefiant
Ubisoft

After less than a year on the market, Ubisoft has announced that it is shutting down its free-to-play FPS XDefiant, resulting in hundreds of job losses and multiple studio closures.

The details:

  • Ubisoft Chief Studios and Portfolio Officer Marie-Sophie de Waubert confirmed on the company's website that XDefiant development would end and the game's servers will be shut down on June 3, 2025. According to de Waubert, the game has "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," and that it is"too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment."

  • As of today, new players can no longer download XDefiant, and registrations have closed. The game's storefront has also been pulled, but Ubisoft will still release season 3 of the game, with those who made purchases within the last 30 days or own the Ultimate Founder's Pack receiving refunds.

  • With the game's shutdown, the publisher has also announced that it will close Ubisoft San Francisco and Osaka, as well as "ramp down" its Sydney production site. This has resulted in the layoff of 277 employees, accounting for half of XDefiant's development team, with the remaining staff being transferred to other Ubisoft projects. “To those team members leaving Ubisoft, I want to express my deepest gratitude for your work and contributions,” de Waubert wrote. “Please know that we are committed to supporting you during this transition.”

  • XDefiant was released in May after several delays and was marketed as a modern take on traditional arcade shooters, with one of its main selling points being the lack of skill-based matchmaking. Despite a strong start, a lack of content and highly requested fixes caused the player base to rapidly decline.

  • Executive producer Mark Rubin also stated that it was "not dying" and had no plans to shut down less than two months ago, but players saw these public messages as hinting that the game’s days were numbered.

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