Ubisoft shuts down shooter that just launched in May

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As a gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I can’t help but feel a pang of disappointment upon hearing about Ubisoft‘s decision to shutter XDefiant. It seems like we’re living in an era where the lifespan of live service games is as fleeting as a summer breeze.

According to Ubisoft’s announcement, despite the recent release of the first-person shooter game XDefiant earlier this year, it has been decided that the game will cease operation for free play.

It appears that we find ourselves in an era where your cherished online game could potentially vanish daily. Following the unfortunate conclusion of “Concord”, Ubisoft has opted to cease its support for one of its titles.

Despite launching in May of this year, Ubisoft has announced that they will no longer be developing or supporting the free-to-play team-based shooter “XDefiant”. Remarkably, a closed Beta last year garnered positive feedback from over 1 million players. However, it appears that the game didn’t quite live up to Ubisoft’s expectations.

“The game has stopped taking on new players now, and it’s going to close its servers permanently by June 2025.

Following a postponement, the game experienced massive popularity, with over 10 million individuals playing it within just the initial fortnight. At that time, as reported by Ubisoft, it surpassed expectations due to its impressive number of acquisitions and significant daily average revenue per play session.

It appears the game’s player count dipped below 20,000, which was the current number of players.

Season 3 content and refunds

In their statement, Ubisoft explain:

The game will remain available to all players who joined XDefiant before December 3rd, 2024. All functionalities, including progression, events, rewards, and achievements, will continue to be available until June 3rd, 2025.

As previously scheduled, we’re moving forward with Season 3 of the game. Those who bought the “Ultimate Founders Pack”, Virtual Currency (VC), or Downloadable Content (DLC) within the past month will be given a refund.

Closing production studios as well

In a manner reminiscent of Firewalk Studios’ Concord, this closure brings about studio shutdowns and job losses. According to Ubisoft, these actions will result in the closing of their San Francisco and Osaka studios, as well as a downscaling of their Sydney production site. This means that approximately 143 people in San Francisco and 134 people in Osaka and Sydney may lose their jobs.

Here’s a possible way of paraphrasing it in natural and easy-to-read language:

What are your thoughts regarding that situation, specifically Ubisoft’s choice to close the game and their development studio?

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2024-12-04 14:10