Ubisoft Announced XDefiant Failure. Company Lays Off Employees and Closes Studios
XDefiant failed to keep players with it, so Ubisoft announced the end of the game's development. As a result, about 270 people will say goodbye to their jobs and two branches of the company will be closed.
Some time ago, Ubisoft assured us that XDefiant wasn't dying, but it turns out that Tom Henderson was closer to the truth, claiming that the company is dissatisfied with the game's performance. Now, Ubisoft announced the end of game's development, leading to the closure of branches and the dismissal of employees.
This is the end of XDefiant
Just over 6 months - that's how long it's been since the release of XDefiant on the market. Although the first activity statistics were promising, the game failed to retain players in the long run and apparently didn't generate good revenue. For this reason, Ubisoft "has made the difficult decision to discontinue development on XDefiant."
Despite an encouraging start, the team’s passionate work, and a committed fan base, we’ve 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. As a result, the game is too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment, and we are announcing that we will be sunsetting it.
The XDefiant servers will remain active until June 3, 2025. The ability to make purchases, register accounts, and download the game has already been disabled. This means that from now on, no new player will be able to play it.
Mark Rubin, the Executive Producer of XDefiant, also published his message on X. Among other things, he announced that all purchases made in the last 30 days will be refunded. People who purchased the Ultimate Founder's Pack will also get their money back. This will happen within 8 weeks from today.
Layoffs and closures
Naturally, the team responsible for XDefiant will feel the consequences of discontinuing the game's development. Ubisoft announced that almost half of the people working on the game will be transferred to other positions and the rest face dismissal. We even got to know the exact numbers. 143 employees will leave the department in San Francisco, and probably 134 from Osaka and Sydney. So, a total of 277 people will say goodbye to Ubisoft.
Moreover, two branches - in San Francisco and Osaka - will be completely closed.
The end of the development of XDefiant is another problem that Ubisoft is facing in 2024. Let's remind that the list includes poor sales of Star Wars: Outlaws, losses on the stock market, workers' strikes, a special investigation in the company, and the delay of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. The question is, what will be next?
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