A month and a half after denying reports that it was about to pull the plug on its free-to-play live shooter XDefiant, which launched in May, Ubisoft has confirmed that it is doing just that, resulting in the closure of three studios. production. and 277 employees lost their jobs.
Marie-Sophie de Waubert, head of studios and portfolio manager at Ubisoft, announced the end of development of XDefiant in a post on the company’s website. “Despite an encouraging start,” de Waubert explained, “the team’s passionate work and a committed fan base, we have not been able to attract and retain enough long-term players to compete at the level we aspire to in the future.” demanding free FPS market.
“The game is too far from achieving the necessary results to allow for further significant investment,” De Waubert continued, “and we announce that we are canceling it.” As such, new downloads, player registrations, and purchases will no longer be available starting today, but Season 3 will launch as planned and servers will remain online until June 3, 2025.
Unfortunately, the news does not end with the cancellation of XDefiant. Ubisoft has also confirmed that it will close its San Francisco and Osaka production studios, and “downsize” its Sydney production site. As a result, 277 employees from the three units will lose their jobs. This amounts to just over half of the XDefiant team worldwide, and Ubisoft noted that other employees working on the project will move to other parts of the company.
“To the team members leaving Ubisoft,” De Waubert continued in his statement. “I want to express my deepest gratitude for your work and contributions. Please know that we are committed to supporting you during this transition.”
In a message to the Games take a long time to find their footing and become profitable. “It’s a long journey that Ubisoft and the teams working on the game were prepared to make until very recently, but unfortunately, the journey became too much to sensibly continue.”
The announcement comes at a turbulent time for Ubisoft, which has been hit by underperforming titles, delays and project cancellations in recent years. In an emergency investor call held in early 2023, Ubisoft announced significantly lower-than-expected profits, prompting the cancellation of three unannounced projects and a “selective restructuring” program that resulted in a series of layoffs.
The publisher has since canceled The Division: Heartland after more than three years of work and delayed the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows until next year following a “softer than expected launch” for Star Wars Outlaws.
