Ubisoft shooter XDefiant is shutting down and issuing refunds to players

Although Ubisoft only officially launched the game this spring, it has already announced that it will end development and discontinue the free-to-play team shooter XDefiant. How HyperScape before that, XDefiant had high expectations since Ubisoft announced more than 1 million players in its closed beta last year. Now it will disappear quickly as it will no longer accept new players as of today and the servers are expected to shut down completely next June.

Despite a delayed launch, Ubisoft said this XDefiant had reached more than 10 million players in its first two weeks and “exceeded expectations thanks to the acquisition and strong average revenue per session day.” However, this momentum could not be sustained, and rumors of problems began to emerge in the fall of that year Insider Gaming reports that the number of concurrent players on all platforms has fallen below 20,000.

Ubisoft explains: “The game remains available to all players who have joined XDefiant before December 3, 2024. All features, including progression, events, rewards, and achievements, will continue to be available until June 3, 2025.” Planned Season 3 content will continue to be released and the company will refund everyone who completes the Ultimate Founders Pack purchased, as well as players who purchased VC and DLC in the last month.

Like with Concord Developer Firewalk Studios, this closure comes with job losses. According to Ubisoft, “difficult consequences” lead to the “closure of our production studios in San Francisco and Osaka and the closure of our production site in Sydney, with 143 people expected to leave in San Francisco and 134 people expected to leave in Osaka and Sydney.”