Another live-service game is shutting down due to a lack of players: Ubisoft’s XDefiant, a first-person shooter that’s the illegitimate lovechild of Overwatch and Counter-Strike. The game launched on May 21 of this year, so it didn’t even last a full seven months before the shutdown announcement.
Ubisoft isn’t shuttering the game right away. Its servers will remain active until June 3, 2025, and the final season will still be added into the game — and anything you’ve bought in the last 30 days will be refunded to you. Ubisoft is also closing down the in-game shop, and if you don’t already have the game downloaded and registered, it might be too late, according to Rock Paper Shotgun.
The biggest impact from this decision isn’t the loss of another shooter, but the loss of roughly 277 jobs from three Ubisoft studios. The company is shutting down its San Francisco and Osaka studios while reducing the amount of work done at its Sydney location.
In the official statement, Ubisoft executive Marie-Sophie de Waubert said 143 people in San Francisco and 134 people between Osaka and Sydney would be departing the company — corporate speak for sugarcoating layoffs. She goes on to say: “Globally, we are determined to take the necessary steps to put the company back on a path to growth, innovation and creativity.”
Ubisoft has taken quite a few body blows this past year. This latest decision likely won’t win much goodwill in the eyes of fans, especially not when the gaming industry as a whole is under scrutiny for mass layoffs.
