Ubisoft to shut down XDefiant, their free-to-play FPS after only six months

After a promising build-up, promotional material that gave hope for a viable alternative to Call of Duty multiplayer and an interesting decision to exclude skill-based matchmaking from certain playlists, Ubisoft shared news on Tuesday that they will be “discontinuing development on XDefiant, their free-to-play FPS after only six months of operation.

The news was shared first internally to Ubisoft’s teams, where the company said the decision to shut down XDefiant was made after they had “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.”

Screenshot from XDefiant/UbiSoft

As of this notice, players will no longer be able to access new downloads, make purchases or register new characters. Ubisoft still plans to launch Season 3, and the game’s servers will remain available until June 3rd, 2025, after which they will be sunsetting the servers and the game itself.

Unfortunately, the news regarding Ubisoft discontinuing development on XDefiant also comes with disappointing news regarding the development teams who worked on the game. Although the company states that half of the XDefiant team worldwide will be transitioning to other roles within Ubisoft, the San Francisco and Osaka Ubisoft studios will be shutting down and the Sydney production site will be “ramping down” as well.

Per the official statement, Ubisoft stated, “the decision also leads to the closing of our San Francisco and Osaka production studios and to the ramp down of our Sydney production site, with 143 people departing in San Francisco and 134 people likely to depart in Osaka and Sydney. To those team members leaving Ubisoft, I want to express my deepest gratitude for your work and contributions. Please know that we are committed to supporting you during this transition.”

Although the news to shut down XDefiant is disappointing, Ubisoft stated that they will learn from the experience, and pointed towards Games-as-a-Service titles where they’ve achieved significant success, such as Rainbow Six, For Honor and The Crew.

What do you think of the fact the news surrounding Ubisoft to shut down XDefiant, their free-to-play FPS after only six months? Do you think the game should have been given more leniency to grow or is Ubisoft right to shut the game down because it was “too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment?” Let us know in the comments.